Bangalore: Money flowed freely as quite a few became instant crorepatis at the IPL auctions here Saturday. The Indian players dominated the bidding wars as KL Rahul and Manish Pandey laughed their way to the bank with multi-million dollar deals but England all-rounder Ben Stokes once again emerged the costliest buy.
Despite all the off-field controversies, Stokes was snapped up for a whopping Rs 12.50 crore by Rajasthan Royals (RR) after Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) and Chennai Super Kings (CSK) also engaged in a fierce bidding war for him (see graphics). Stylish opener Rahul and middle-order batsman Pandey bagged deals worth Rs 11.00 crore each from KXIP and Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) respectively.
Afghanistan leg-spinner Rashid Khan’s reputation as one of the most sought after bowlers in the shortest format was once again affirmed as SRH used their Right to Match (RTM) card to buy him back for Rs 9.00 crore.
Among others who got good deals were Karun Nair (KXIP Rs 5.60 crore), Kedar Jadhav (CSK, Rs 7.80 crore), Ravichandran Ashwin (CSK to KXIP, Rs 7.60 crore).
Some of the proven T20 specialists like Sanju Samson also earned big bucks as RR bought him back for Rs 8.00 crore while Robin Uthappa’s pyrotechnics earned him a callback from Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) at Rs 6.40 crore.
Leg-spinners were in demand as Karn Sharma got Rs 5 crore from CSK, Yuzvendra Chahal Rs 6 crore via RTM from Royal Challengers Bangalore and Kuldeep Yadav Rs 5.80 crore via RTM from KKR. Even uncapped Rahul Tewatia was picked up for Rs 3.00 crore by DD.
Among the wicket-keepers, Dinesh Karthik once again bagged a lucrative Rs 7.40 crore (Gujarat Lions to KKR) while Wriddhiman Saha (KXIP to SRH) got Rs 5.00 crore.
Unsold stars
Parthiv Patel Mumbai Indians
Chris Gayle RCB
Joe Root
Ishant Sharma KXIP
Murali Vijay KXIP
Cheap buys Team (Rs)
Harbhajan Singh MI to CSK 2.00 crore
Gautam Gambhir KKR to DD 2.80 crore
Faf du Plessis CSK (RTM) 1.60 crore
Yuvraj Singh SRH to KXIP 2.00 crore
History created
Krunal Pandya became Saturday the costliest uncapped buy in IPL history, going for a whopping Rs 8.80 crore to Mumbai Indians (MI). Krunal going to MI was expected but not the astronomical figure he went for, surpassing Pawan Negi who was bought by DD for Rs 8.50 crore in the 2016 auction. Krunal’s base price was Rs 40 lakh. MI exercised the RTM for Krunal after a bidding war broke out between RR, RCB and SRH.
Agencies