Nobody wanted Steve Smith, Marnus Labuschagne nor Aaron Finch - but the IPL went crazy for unsung Tim David, who earned the biggest auction deal of any Aussie.
Nobody wanted Steve Smith, Marnus Labuschagne, nor Aaron Finch - but the Indian Premier League has gone ga-ga for the unsung Tim David, who's suddenly become Australian cricket's biggest IPL earner.
The big-hitting West Australian David, who's so far earned his international stripes for his birthplace of Singapore and not the country where he was raised, was snapped up for $1.53m by the powerhouse Mumbai Indians franchise in Sunday's mega-auction.
That was more than any of the other four established Australian stars in the millionaires' league had managed to attract on the auction's first day on Saturday.
Josh Hazlewood had gone for $1.44m to Royal Challengers Bangalore, Aussie captain Pat Cummins $1.35m to Kolkata Knight Riders, and Mitch Marsh $1.2m and David Warner $1.16m, both to Delhi Capitals.
Meanwhile, other much more high-profile names like Smith, Labuschagne, Finch, Adam Zampa, Kane Richardson and BBL sensation Ben McDermott didn't even land a single offer.
Instead, it was imposing and rapidly rising 25-year-old Hobart Hurricanes' hitter David, with his globe-trotting 'have bat, will travel' career, who had five franchises grappling for his signature after he'd been put on the market for the most modest $75,000.
David, who's grown up in Perth since he was very young, is a man much in demand in T20 leagues around the globe and is currently wowing them in the Pakistan Super League with Multan Sultans before he moves on to Lancashire Lightning in the English county summer.
He did play for Royal Challengers Bangalore in last season's IPL but only got one game - but Mumbai will doubtless be expecting rather more now they've made him their highest-ever overseas earner.
"We've been tracking Tim and he has got success at RCB last year. Looking forward to seeing him and (Kieron) Pollard finishing innings for us," said Mumbai's owner Akash Ambani.
Daniel Sams was snapped up to join David at Mumbai for $484,000, as was paceman Riley Meredith ($186,000) on day two of the auction.
Another fast bowler Jason Behrendorff went to RCB for $139,000 where he'll play alongside Hazlewood, Glenn Maxwell and Virat Kohli.
Sean Abbott got a good deal to go to Sunrisers Hyderabad for $446,000 while Matthew Wade, overlooked on the opening day, was eventually given a home at new franchise Gujurat Titans for the same sum.
In all, $12.23 million was spent on wooing Australians for this year's IPL campaign.
At least Finch wasn't the only World Cup-winning captain who was snubbed, as Australia's T20 leader was joined by England's 50-over skipper Eoin Morgan in the unwanted pile.
The overseas star making the biggest splash was England's Liam Livingstone, who was hired by Punjab Kings for $2.14m.
And while his compatriot Jofra Archer may still not even be fit in time to play, the paceman's credentials are such that Mumbai still bought him for $1.48m.
British auctioneer Hugh Edmeades, who fell unconscious while conducting the bidding on Saturday, said in a video message that he was "absolutely fine" but could not "give a 100% performance" so had stayed away on the second day.
Charu Sharma, an Indian sports commentator and quizmaster, took his place in Bengaluru.
