Ben Stokes and Tymal Mills were the most expensive picks at the Indian Premier League auction on Monday, ahead of the tenth edition of the tournament.
England all-rounder Ben Stokes was the most expensive purchase, going to Rising Pune Supergiants for a whopping Rs 14.5 crore after an intense bidding war between Mumbai Indians, Delhi Daredevils and Royal Challengers Bangalore, after which Sunrisers Hyderabad also entered the fray. Pune came in at the last moment with the winning bid.
The other big buy was England’s Tymal Mills, who was sold to Royal Challengers Bangalore for Rs 12 crore. Delhi and Mumbai started the bidding, then Royal Challengers Bangalore joined the race and ultimately bagged Mills, who had a base price of Rs 50 lakh.
South Africa’s Imran Tahir, the world’s best Twenty20 International bowler by ranking, shockingly went unsold twice.
The other major purchases were all pace bowlers. South Africa’s Kagiso Rababa went to Delhi Daredevils for Rs 5 crore, Australia’s Pat Cummins was sold for Rs 4.5 crore, while Trent Boult was bought by Kolkata Knight Riders for Rs 5 crore.
Leg-spinner Karn Sharma became the most expensive Indian at the auction as he was bought by Mumbai Indians for Rs 3.2 crore, from a base price of Rs 30 lakh. Left armer T Natarajan went to Kings XI Punjab for a whopping Rs 3 crore, from a base price of Rs 10 lakhs.
The other Indians to strike it big were Hyderabad’s Mohammad Siraj who was bought by Sunrisers Hyderabad for Rs 2.6 crore, Rajasthan bowler Aniket Choudhary, who was sold to Royal Challengers Bangalore for Rs 2 crore and K Gowtham, who went to Mumbai Indians for Rs 2 crore. Pawan Negi, who was the most expensive Indian last year, bagged a Rs 1-crore deal from Royal Challengers Bangalore after starting at a base price of Rs 30 lakh.
Mohammad Nabi became the first player from Afghanistan to make it to the IPL, as Sunrisers Hyderabad bought him at his base price of Rs 30 lakh. Fellow Afghan spinner, 18-year-old Rashid Khan, was the object of another bidding war but was ultimately picked by Sunrisers Hyderabad for Rs 4 crore, up from a base price of Rs 50 lakh. Chirag Suri from the United Arab Emirates was also bought by Gujarat Lions for Rs 10 lakh.
Several notable players went unsold, among them former India all-rounder Irfan Pathan, Ishant Sharma Cheteshwar Pujara, Jonny Bairstow, Pragyan Ojha, Ross Taylor, Alex Hales, Parvez Rasool, S Badrinath and Marlon Samuels.
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