Mumbai, Feb 20 Mahendra Singh Dhoni outshone the likes of Adam Gilchrist and Muttiah Muralitharan as the Chennai franchise of the Indian Premier League (IPL) made a whopping USD 1.5 million bid (approximately Rs six crore) to win the Indian one day captain here today.

Dhoni was clearly the star of the first round bidding with the Chennai franchise making an aggressive bid for the flamboyant stumper-batsman.

The Hyderabad franchise won Gilchrist with a USD 700,000 (app Rs 2.8 crore)bid, less than half of what Dhoni managed.

The Chennai side also managed to rope in Sri Lankan off-spinner Muralitharan for USD 600,000 (Rs 2.4 crore).

Retired Australian leg-spinner Shane Warne was bought by Jaipur for USD 450, 000, while Mahela Jayawardene will be seen playing for the Mohali team, which shelled out USD 475,000 for the Sri Lankan captain.

Pakistan's enigmatic speedster Shoaib Akhtar was won by the Kolkata team for USD 425,000. (Agencies)