Melbourne: Australian fast bowler Mitchell Johnson's decision to miss the Indian Premier League (IPL) had cost him $500,000, a report has claimed.
While several of Australia's top cricketers joined the lucrative league, Michael Clarke, Johnson and gloveman Brad Haddin decided to stay away from it to focus on their international careers.
The Sunday Telegraph claimed that Clarke stood to earn $800,000 a season had he entered the IPL bidding frenzy.
It quoted IPL chairman Lalit Modi as saying that Johnson would have commanded enormous interest during the February 20 auction in Mumbai, considering that pacer Brett Lee was bought by Mohali team for a staggering $900,000.
"It is very difficult to put a price on him (Johnson) but if you look at the top bowlers, they went for big money," Modi was quoted as saying by the newspaper.
"Johnson would have easily gone for 400-500 (thousand dollars a season), easily. I don't think Johnson would have been left on the market.
"You look at Brett Lee, he got over $900,000 ... someone like Johnson would have been a hot pick," Modi added.
Five Test stars — Ricky Ponting, Andrew Symonds, Brett Lee, Matthew Hayden and Michael Hussey — stand to pocket $3.375 million collectively by playing in the inaugural 44-day IPL tournament from April 18.
But coach Tim Nielsen said the big-name posse could miss the IPL bus in the first year if the Australians were given the green light to tour Pakistan.
The revised tour of Pakistan is scheduled between March 29 and April 27, before Australia play their first match of the West Indies tour on May 16.
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