Christchurch, New Zealand: New Zealand refused to be distracted from its Cricket World Cup objectives by the millions of dollars on offer in Monday's Indian Premier League (IPL) auction, focusing instead on Tuesday's second Pool A match against Scotland.
Eight New Zealanders were up for auction, notably batsman Kane Williamson who was in an initial group of 12 marquee players and went to Sunrisers Hyderabad for $128,000.
Six New Zealanders were sold, although batsman Ross Taylor and wicketkeeper Luke Ronchi were passed over while captain Brendon McCullum, allrounder Corey Anderson and fast bowler Tim Southee had already been retained by their IPL teams.
Veteran Daniel Vettori was more heavily involved as coach of Bangalore.
McCullum said he was confident the New Zealand players would not be distracted from their preparation for the Scotland match at Dunedin's University Oval by the money on offer in India.
"I haven't given it too much thought," he said. "It's great for some guys in our team who are in the auction today, it's symbolic of the performances that guys have put up in the last little while.
"It's certainly not a focus for our team and it's hardly even been discussed among the group. I'm sure some guys will be watching with plenty of interest and hopefully all goes well for them and some guys go for big money, it'll certainly ease the burden on me picking up the tab every now and then."
McCullum said he understood left-arm spinner Vettori would be more involved in Monday's proceedings as an IPL coach but was not concerned. Vettori is considered unlikely to be included in New Zealand's team for the match against Scotland.
"He (Vettori) will be pretty active today and some of the other guys, they deserve to be picked up and deserve the opportunity to play in the IPL," he said. "It is a fantastic competition.
"Obviously there's some benefits financially but it's a great opportunity to play with some great players from around the world who you would never normally play with."
