Melbourne, May 4: Australia's current cricket superstars have arrived back home with riches beyond their expectations, thanks to their participation in the Indian Premier League (IPL).

Pace spearhead Brett Lee emerged as the richest Australian cricketer from the tournament and returned home with 80,000 dollars per scalp for his four wickets. It may be recalled that Lee was auctioned for 900,000 dollars and he took home over 320,000 dollars after playing four matches for Kings XI Punjab.

Australian captain Ricky Ponting had a poor outing with the Kolkata Knight Riders, but returned home as the richest Australian batsman. He earned 3663 dollars for every run that he scored in the four matches that he played.

He scored 39 runs, which also included two golden ducks, and took home 142,000 dollars.

All-rounder Andrew Symonds, who was the highest paid foreign player at the auction, became richer by 500,000 dollars after making just four appearances with the Hyderabad Deccan Chargers. Symonds pocketed 3000 dollars for each of his 161 runs.

Opener Matthew Hayden (134,000 dollars) and Michael Hussey (125,000 dollars) both brought home more for two weeks' work than most Australians get for two years.

Simon Katich, who played just two matches for Kings XI Punjab, earned 60,000 dollars for his efforts, reports The Australian.