Recently retired Victorian star Brad Hodge was the big winner of the Australian contingent in the initial round of the 2012 Indian Premier League auction on Saturday.
The Australian domestic champion was purchased by the Rajasthan Royals for $475,000 and considering each player earns the same amount of money he is bought for, Hodge would surely have a smile on his face from ear to ear upon hearing the news.
Four of Hodge's countrymen were also successfully bid for.
Mitchell Johnson ($300,000) is off to the Mumbai Indians, James Faulkner ($190,000) joins the Kings XI Punjab, Brad Hogg ($180,000) continues his remarkable resurgence by also being picked up by Rajasthan and Daniel Harris ($70,000) makes his way to the Deccan Chargers.
Other noteworthy Aussies who remained unsold were Peter Siddle, Xavier Doherty, Steve O'Keefe and Steven Smith.
Meanwhile, Ravindra Jadeja, Mahela Jayawardene and Vinay Kumar were the top picks at the auction but Indian Test star VVS Laxman was also among the players who failed to find a bidder club.
There were only eight clubs present at the auction, with the late controversial pull out of sponsor Sahara India from franchise Pune Warriors seeing the side absent from the event.
Jadeja, who was expected to draw a tough round of bidding, was bought by Chennai Super Kings after the defending champions and Deccan Chargers bid the maximum purse of $2 million each.
The MS Dhoni-led Super Kings side picked up the all-rounder due to a higher secret bid.
New Zealand's Brendon McCullum - who impressed last season with the now-defunct Kochi Tuskers Kerala - will return to his former club the Kolkata Knight Riders for $900,000 after an intense round of bidding, which saw $500,000 added onto his base price.
Jayawardene - McCullum's opening partner at Kochi - also fetched a good price with Delhi Daredevils paying $1.4 million for the Sri Lanka skipper.
Kumar also returned to his first team as the Royal Challengers Bangalore came up with a successful bid of $1 million.
RP Singh, the fastest to 50 wickets in the IPL, was bought by Mumbai Indians for $650,000, while Sreesanth was picked up by the Rajasthan Royals for his base price of $400,000 but VRV Singh, who was with the Kings XI Punjab, did not find any takers.
Among the other Indian players, Parthiv Patel was bought by Deccan Chargers for $650,000 while expectedly, Laxman was unsold.
Off-spinner Ramesh Powar returned to his former club Kings XI Punjab after their successful bid of $160,000.
He was also part of the Kochi team last season.
Royal Challengers Bangalore paid $220,000 for spinning great Muttiah Muralitharan while Mumbai picked up the biggest bargain of the day when they bought swashbuckling opener Herschelle Gibbs for just $50,000.
Among the other buys, Dinesh Chandimal was bought by Royals for $50,000 while several notable players like James Anderson, Ian Bell, Graeme Swann, Matt Prior, Stuart Broad, Owais Shah, Mark Boucher and Tamim Iqbal did not interest the franchisees.
West Indian Sunil Narine, who impressed during the Champions League T20 for Trinidad and Tobago, was the biggest surprise of the day as the Mumbai Indians and Kolkata Knight Riders bid heavily for his services, with the latter winning out at $700,000.