Sam Curran was drafted by Kings XI Punjab for around one million US dollars at the Indian Premier League auction, while England team-mate Jonny Bairstow is set to join Sunrisers Hyderabad.

Curran has made a favourable impact since bursting on to the international scene earlier this year and particularly burnished his reputation in the Test series against India in the summer.

The 20-year-old was therefore snapped up by Kings XI, who paid 7.2 crore rupees for his services (£788,000) ahead of next year's edition which starts on March 29 and runs until May 19.

The Surrey all-rounder is on the fringes of the England one-day set-up so may be able to feature in the entire tournament.

Bairstow will only be available until April 25 before reporting for international duty ahead of the World Cup – although that did not dissuade this year's runners-up from signing the wicketkeeper-batsman for 2.2 crore rupees (around £245,000)

The Yorkshireman is one of only three batsmen – alongside Indian pair Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma – to go past 1,000 runs in the ODI format in 2018.

While Curran and Bairstow are contemplating featuring in the most lucrative domestic Twenty20 competition in the world for the first time, several high-profile England internationals have gone unsold.

Alex Hales, Chris Woakes and Chris Jordan – all three of whom featured in the most recent staging of the event – did not attract any interest.

At the start of the day there were 19 English-qualified players hoping to secure a deal, including limited-overs captain Eoin Morgan.