Former CEO of franchise Kings XI Punjab, Neil Maxwell disclosed the first IPL wasn't going as per plan after Australia players weren't ready to participate in the tournament.

The 'Monkeygate' incident between Harbhajan Singh and Andrew Symonds was the reason Aussies were needed to be convinced. 

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“Lalit Modi asked me to convince the Australian players and the New Zealand players that they needed to come to the IPL, and not go to the ICL or, in Andrew Symonds’ case, not go at all,” Maxwell said on The Top Order podcast. “He didn’t want to go at all, because he had that blowout with Harbhajan.

“So I had to work the Australian cricket team. I was working them all. I remember we’re putting contracts in front of them, and there was going to be a minimum amount, they were going to this thing called the auction. So Andrew Symonds was going to get 200,000 USD minimum [$US 250,000]. And that was about an Australian Cricket contract [for a whole year] – he was on about 300, let’s say.”

Symonds agreed to be a part of the auction and later ended up becoming the highest-paid overseas player in the IPL 2008 auction. Even the all-rounder was surprised by the $1.35 million price tag he fetched.

“He was going to get that for six weeks guaranteed, and it could only go up. I remember trying to convince him that he needed to be part of this competition,” Maxwell said.

“Anyway, he reluctantly agreed, and 48 hours later, he had 1.2 million [$1.35m] a year for three years as a contract. You talk about transformation, that was a transformation as they introduced the auction.”