Jesse Ryder could be snapped up the IPL but it may not be without its challenges © Getty Images

The second instalment of the IPL begins in April and thoughts are turning to who the franchises might snap up at next month's auction. Some England players are likely to be on the roster, plus youngsters who have impressed over the last 12 months. However, there are warnings to heed. Not all the stars who signed last year impressed during the tournament and some have suffered a hangover into their Test and ODI performances.

In the Sydney Morning Herald Andrew Stevenson and Stephen Samuelson look at the Australian players who came back from India worse off.

Could it be cricket's version of the pact with the devil - every incremental increase in the bank account is matched by a corresponding fall in your figures. Gone, or at least severely impaired, is the ability to score runs and take wickets. Call it the curse of the Indian Premier League.

Australia's elite spent only a short spell in the IPL, with the Test players packing their bags for the West Indies almost as soon as they got acclimatised. It may just be pure coincidence. Cause and effect are notoriously difficult to establish within a cricketer's career, when a tough run of Tests or spate of bad decisions can quickly turn your figures south.

Across the Tasman, in the New Zealand Herald, Chris Rattue fears more New Zealand players will join the quest for the big money and isn't sure of the benefits to the national team.

In a boon to the nation's cricketing morale, we hear that Jesse Ryder, whose international career is promisingly half-baked, and Tim Southee, who has barely got the ingredients out of the cupboard, may scoop half a million bucks a year each in return for helping India to fuel its insatiable desire to turn cricket into a raucous circus. Hooray for Twenty20 - we are all so excited for them.

These Million Dollar Test Babes are set for life, and the moment is fast approaching when Southee, Ryder and all will face the difficult choice of whether they drive to the next rain-sodden cricketing scrapheap in this country in a Porsche or a Lamborghini.