The Indian Premier League player auction 2017 concluded here on Monday with as many as 66 players being bought by eight teams including 27 overseas players. On a day that witnessed intense bidding, a total of R91.15 crore was spent. For the first time, players from Afghanistan were listed for the auction. Rashid Khan, an 18-year-old, fetched a whopping R4 crore as the teams pitched in hard for the Afghan leg-spinner, with Sunrisers Hyderabad being the eventual winners.
All-rounders and fast bowlers, especially from England, were in big demand at the IPL auction on Monday. England’s Ben Stokes became the most expensive player of the auction when Rising Pune Supergiants bought him for R14.5 crore, just R1.5 crore short of the all-time high price for a player in IPL auctions. His fellow player from England Tymal Mills was purchased by Royal Challengers Bangalore for R12 crore.
Stokes, who has not played in the IPL yet and had a base price of R2 crore, attracted multiple bids from the franchises. He also became the highest paid foreign player ever in the IPL tournament, breaking the earlier record held by former England captain Kevin Pietersen.
There were 358 players up for grabs for the 10th edition of the cricket league. The teams had a collective purse of R150 crore to spend in the eight-team Twenty20 cricket tournament. The biggest surprise at this year’s auction was Ishant Sharma, who did not find any luck with IPL franchises. Sharma, who had a base price of R2 crore remained unsold. The 2017 edition of IPL tournament will begin on April 5 and closes on May 21.
Among other overseas players, South African bowler Kagiso Rabada was bought by Delhi Daredevils for R5 crore, Trent Boult was taken by Kolkata Knight Riders for R5 crore, Pat Cummins fetched R4.5 crore from Delhi Daredevils, and Australian pacer Mitchell Johnson got R2 crore from Mumbai Indians. Eoin Morgan, the T20 captain of England, got R2 crore from Kings XI Punjab, while Angelo Mathews of Sri Lanka got R2 crore from Delhi Daredevils. The lone UAE cricketer, Chirag Suri, was bought by the Gujarat Lions.
Among Indian players, Railways leg-break bowler Karn Sharma was bought by Mumbai Indians for R3.2 crore and left-arm pacer from Tamil Nadu T Natarajan was picked for R3 crore by Kings XI Punjab. He got 30 times more than his base price. Karnataka’s spin-bowling all-rounder K Gowtham and left-arm pacer Aniket Choudhary fetched R2 crore each from Mumbai Indians, while Pawan Negi got R1 crore from Royal Challengers Bangalore.
Commenting on the purchases made at the auction, Pune coach Stephen Fleming said, “We are now in a situation to back youngsters and we have some big-time players. There is an element of risk when spending big-time money, but we are ready to take that risk.”
