Australia fast bowler Brett Lee says the Indian Premier League (IPL) could have a major impact on cricket's future.

The competition's franchises spent millions of dollars to secure the services of the world's best players overnight.

Indian one-day captain MS Dhoni attracted the highest bid of $1.74 million and Australian all-rounder Andrew Symonds went for almost $1.5 million.

The Mohali franchise paid $982,000 for the rights to Lee and he says it is a ground-breaking concept.

"I think it's definitely history [being made]," he said.

"If we look back in 10 years this is going to be a massive landmark in cricket.

"It's a bit like when the World Series started - providing we always keep Test cricket as Test cricket, one-day cricket as one-day cricket and keep this (Twenty20) as the third form of the game."

Rivals in tomorrow's one-dayer between Australia and Sri Lanka will become team-mates in the IPL.

Australia opener Matthew Hayden will play alongside Sri Lankan spinner Mutiah Muralidaran as well as Dhoni after all three players were picked up by Chennai Super Kings.

Lee's team-mates include Sri Lankan stars Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakarra.

He could also open the bowling with India's S Sreesanth or Irfan Pathan.

Australia captain Ricky Ponting will have West Indian Chris Gayle and long-time Indian rival Sourav Ganguly in his team Kolkata.

Following are the 22 most expensive players purchased by the IPL's eight franchises at the auction.

The teams will pay the winning bid to the player annually. The contracts are for a three-year period and are guaranteed by the Indian cricket board.

The inaugural 44-day, Twenty20 tournament gets underway on April 18.