With Andrew Symonds grossing $1.35m, Mahendra Dhoni, with a whopping $1.5m paycheque from Chennai, looks likely to be the highest-priced cricketer before the day ends. That Chennai have no “icon” player - who by right will get 15 per cent more than the highest-paid cricketer – could have played a role in the high bid, and also that the Indians will make bigger brands. The question right now is: will anybody get more than Dhoni? Even Sachin Tendulkar?

Mumbai’s highest scalp right now is Sanath Jayasuriya – worth $975,000. Since they have procured Harbhajan Singh for $850,000, they can’t be going for another high-priced cricketer. They are now obliged to pay Tendulkar a minimum of $1,121,250 (115 per cent of what Jayasuriya is getting). If they pay Tendulkar the minimum stipulated amount, they would have spent $2,946,250 on three players alone. So it depends on what bargains they can work out with the rest of the squad how much more Mumbai can play Tendulkar.

Most likely, if somebody is to get a higher bid than Dhoni, the bid will have to come from a side that has no icon player. But it is open to doubt as to who will make a bigger brand-player combination than Dhoni. Currently Virender Sehwag stands a chance of outearning Dhoni, if the next best player picked by Delhi fetches more than $13.04m