Top 5 buys from the 2008 IPL auction, and where they are now

#2 Andrew Symonds ($1.35 million)

Andrew Symonds

Australian all-rounder Andrew Symonds was the most expensive overseas player in the inaugural auction. He was purchased by Deccan Chargers for a whopping $1.35 million.

Symonds' monster-hitting ability combined with his incredible fielding skills and useful spin bowling made him the perfect T20 choice. He played only four games that year, but smashed a magnificent 117 not out against Rajasthan Royals, hitting 11 fours and seven sixes. It came in a losing cause though as Royals won by three wickets.

Symonds was part of the DC squad that won the title in 2009, scoring 249 runs in eight matches. He was signed by Mumbai Indians in 2011 for $8,50,000, which meant he would play in the same team as Harbhajan Singh, the two central figures in the Monkeygate controversy.

Symonds scored 135 runs in 11 matches at a strike rate of under 100. It was his last season in IPL.

The all-rounder announced his retirement from all cricket in February 2012 to concentrate on family life. His last international match was the T20I against Pakistan at Dubai in May 2009.

Symonds made headlines in 2018 when he claimed Harbhajan apologised to him for calling him a ‘monkey’ during their Mumbai Indians reunion, a claim the former India off-spinner denied. Earlier, in 2011, he also participated in the Indian reality show Bigg Boss season 5.