Two-time World Cup-winning Australia [ Images ] captain Ricky Ponting [ Images ] led the cream of Australian players who signed up on Tuesday for the BCCI-promoted US $ three million Indian Premier League [ Images ], along with swashbuckling Pakistani all-rounder Shahid Afridi [ Images ].

Ponting, his deputy Adam Gilchrist [ Images ], Andrew Symonds [ Images ], Matthew Hayden [ Images ], Michael Clarke [ Images ], Mike Hussey [ Images ], Brett Lee [ Images ], Nathan Bracken [ Images ], Brad Haddin [ Images ], Mitchell Johnson [ Images ], Simon Katich [ Images ], Jason Gillespie and Cameron White [ Images ] are the Australians who have joined the IPL, a statement from the IPL said.

Pakistan's Afridi and South Africa's [ Images ] Loots Bosman have also been roped in for the inaugural edition of the Twenty20 [ Images ] championship, which has already contracted 29 players from New Zealand [ Images ], Pakistan, Sri Lanka [ Images ], South Africa and the West Indies [ Images ].

Thus far, 44 players have signed up for the tournament, which will feature 56 league games plus two semi-finals and a final after it kicks-off in mid-April 2008.

Among those who had signed up earlier are retired Australian greats Shane Warne [ Images ] and Glen McGarth, former New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming [ Images ], Sri Lankan skipper Mahela Jayawardene [ Images ], Sanath Jayasuriya [ Images ], South African captain Graeme Smith [ Images ] and his compatriot Shaun Pollock [ Images ], current New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori [ Images ], Mohammed Yousuf and Shoaib Akhtar [ Images ] (both Pakistan).

IPL chairman and commissioner Lalit Modi [ Images ] expressed satisfaction at the signing up of the cream of the Australian team and added that their induction would add a new dimension to the League.

"I am sure that the cricket-loving public of India would cherish the opportunity to see the World champions turn out for their local teams. The induction of the prodigious Aussie talent will add a whole new dimension to the cricket that is played in the Indian Premier League," he said.