India's fascination with Trinidad and Tobago's cricketers was again reflected in cold cash at the Indian Premier League (IPL) auction yesterday.

T&T mystery spinner Sunil Narine, emerging middle order batsman Darren Bravo and all-rounder Kevon Cooper were all picked up by IPL franchises.

Narine's purchase by the Kolkata Knight Riders was one of the biggest shocks of the auction.

Starting at a base price of US$50,000, he was eventually bought for US$700,000, making him the fifth most expensive buy behind India all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja, Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene, India pacer Vinay Kumar and New Zealand batsman Brendan McCullum.

Bravo, who was in ESPN Cricinfo's Test XI for 2011 and is now ranked in the top 20 of the International Cricket Council's (ICC) Test rankings, was picked up by Deccan Chargers at his base price of US$100,000, while Cooper, who, like Narine, gave strong showings at both the Champions League last September and last month's Caribbean T20 series– where T&T retained their title– was secured by Rajasthan Royals at his base price of US$50,000.

The Trinidad and Tobago trio were just three of four new West Indians to get work in the IPL. The other player bought was dynamic Jamaican all-rounder Andre Russell, who was purchased for US$450,000 by the Delhi Daredevils from a base price of US$50,000.

These four will now join Chris Gayle (Royal Challengers Bangalore), Kieron Pollard (Mumbai Indians) and Dwayne Bravo (Chennai Super Kings) as West Indians in the IPL.

The status of Jerome Taylor, who played for Pune Warriors in IPL Four, was unclear yesterday since the team's sponsors, Sahara, withdrew their sponsorship.

However, the new signings, especially that of Bravo, present further complications for West Indies cricket and, in particular, the selection panel headed by Clyde Butts. The problem is fixture clashes.

This year's IPL will run from April 4 to May 27, which will coincide with both the three-Test series against Australia (April 7-27) and the subsequent tour to England (May 5-June 24).

In addition, the Premier League could possibly rob T&T of the services of Bravo and Narine should T&T get to the regional final, scheduled for April 7-10.

While Narine, who made his international T20 debut in India last year, is not contracted to the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB), both Bravo and Russell are.

Already Gayle--still debarred from representing West Indies because of his impasse with the WICB--Pollard and Dwayne Bravo are free agents.

In yesterday's auction, Jadeja fetched a bid worth more than US$2 million. But there were no takers for frontline England players.

Less than 24 hours after Jadeja's Man-of-the-Match performance in India's Twenty20 victory over Australia, Deccan Chargers had a fierce bidding war with the Chennai franchise, matching their US$2 million offer.

The stalemate resulted in secret bidding and Chennai secured the 23-year-old all-rounder's service for an undisclosed amount.

Jayawardene was picked up for US$1.4 million by Delhi Daredevils, Kumar for US$1 million (Bangalore) and McCullum for US$900,000 by the Knight Riders.

However, England cricketers James Anderson, Matt Prior, Graeme Swann, Eoin Morgan and Ravi Bopara were not among the 25 players, out of 144, who invited bids. T&T players Lendl Simmons, Adrian Barath and Ravi Rampaul were among several West Indians who also went unsold.

Kevin Pietersen is expected to play some part in the league, having completed his transfer from Deccan to Delhi.

Of the nine existing teams, Pune skipped the auction after their owners Sahara Group announced they were pulling out.

Mumbai had a hectic day, adding Indian pace bowler RP Singh (US$600,000), Sri Lankan Thisara Perera (US$650,000), Australian Mitchell Johnson (US$300,000) and South African Robin Peterson (US$100,000) to their bowling unit.

"Around US$11 million was spent by the franchises during the auction and it was fair and transparent. I don't think any of the franchises have any complaint," IPL chairman Rajeev Shukla told reporters. –With reporting by Reuters) • See Pages 45 and 46