IPL auctions 2018: Kolkata Knight Riders biggest spenders on day one

New Delhi: Actor Shahrukh Khan’s Kolkata Knight Riders outspent rival teams in the players’ auction for the 11th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) on Saturday, splurging a total of Rs51.4 crore on ten players at the end of the first day in Bengaluru.

IPL’s eight franchisees spent Rs321.1 crore for 78 players, including 29 from outside India, in this auction.

Kolkata Knight Riders made an ambitious bet on Australian batsman Chris Lynn and fast bowler Mitchell Starc for Rs9.6 crore and Rs9.4 crore respectively. The team’s most expensive India player is wicket keeper Dinesh Karthik at Rs7.4 crore followed by Robin Uthappa at Rs6.4 crore

Runners up last season, KKR picked up four uncapped Indian players after an intense bidding war in the evening session on Saturday. The team spent Rs3.4 crore and Rs3.2 crore respectively on all rounders Nitish Rana and Kamlesh Nagarkoti. Both were at a base price of Rs20 lakh. Their team had earlier, retained West Indies bowler Sunil Narine and West Indies all-rounder Andre Russell.

Other big spenders at the end of the first day of the auction included Sun Risers Hyderabad, Kings XI Punjab and Rajasthan Royals at Rs51.05 crore, Rs45.6 crore and Rs44 crore respectively.

Rajasthan Royals which will make a comeback in the IPL after two seasons made the top purchase of the auction for English all-rounder Ben Stokes at Rs12.5 crore, drastically higher than his base price of Rs2 crore. Last year, Stokes was bought by Sanjiv Goenka’s Rising Pune Supergiants for Rs14.5 crore. He is the most expensive foreign player for the second year in a row.

The Royals also spent generously on India players , the team purchased wicket keeper Sanju Samson for Rs8 crore and Indian batsman Ajinkay Rahane for Rs4 crore. While Samson played for Delhi Daredevils last season, Rahane played for Rising Pune Supergiants in IPL 10. In line with KKR, even Rajasthan Royals loosened their purse strings for uncapped young players. The team spent Rs7.2 crore on West Indies all-rounder Jofra Archer and Rs4 crore on Australian all-rounder Darcy Short.

Sun Risers Hyderabad purchased the maximum number of players on day one of the auction with 16 players. Indian batsman Manish Pandey and Afghan bowler Rashid Khan were also among the top buys at the auction by Sun Risers Hyderabad. The team owned by Kalanithi Maran of Sun TV Network spent Rs11 crore and Rs9 crore for the two players respectively. The team purchased a total of six uncapped players including Siddharth Kaul and Deepak Hooda. Other players picked up by the team include Shikhar Dhawan and Yusuf Pathan.

Kings XI Punjab which is co-owned by Priety Zinta, Ness Wadia, Karan Paul and Mohit Burman spent Rs45.6 crore in the players auction and bought ten players at the end of day one. The Punjab franchise bought right hand batsman K.L. Rahul for Rs11 crore following an intense bidding war with his base price at Rs2 crore. The team also picked up Ravichnadran Ashwin for Rs7.6 crore.

The team bid for Australian all rounder Marcus Stoinis and batsman Aaron Finch for Rs6.2 crore each. The team picked up Indian batsman Karun Nair for Rs5.6 crore. Nair became a money spinner in the auction as his base price was set at Rs50 lakh. The team which retained only one player—all rounder Axar Patel—earlier this month also bought batsmen David Miller and Yuvraj Singh. Singh was sold at his base price of Rs2 crore.

Diageo-owned Royal Challengers Bangalore snapped up English Chris Woakes and New Zealand batsman Brendon McCullum for Rs7.4 crore and Rs3.4 crore respectively. The team retained Indian spinner Yuzvendra Chahal for Rs6 crore, higher than his base price of Rs2 crore. RCB had earlier retained Indian cricket skipper Virat Kohli, South African batsman AB de Villiers and batsman Sarfaraz Khan.

Delhi Daredevils, owned by GMR, purchased 12 players on Saturday starting with Australian all rounder Glenn Maxwell at Rs9 crore. Gautam Gambhir, who originally started his IPL career with the team, was purchased back for Rs2. 8 crore. The team strengthened its bowling by purchasing south African fast bowler Kagiso Rabada for Rs4.2 crore, Amit Mishra for Rs4 crore and Mohammed Shami for Rs3 crore. Delhi Daredevils also spent money to acquire uncapped players including under 19 team captain Prithvi Shaw and bowler Avesh Khan among others.

Last season’s winners, Mumbai Indians bought 6 players including Indian all rounder Krunal Pandya who was retained using the right to match card for a whopping Rs8.8 crore and Keiron Pollard for Rs5.4 crore. Indian uncapped wicketkeeper-batsman Ishan Kishan led a huge bidding war between Mumbai and Bangalore and ultimately the defending champions had to pay a whopping sum of Rs6.2 crore to acquire his services. The team had earlier retained batsman Rohit Sharma, all-rounder Hardik Pandya and fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah.

Chennai Super Kings which returns to IPL after two years with M.S. Dhoni, bought eight players in the auction. The team picked up Indian all rounder Kedar Jadhav for Rs7.8 crore much higher than his base price of Rs2 crore. West Indies all rounder Dwayne Brave was also sold to Chennai for Rs6.4 crore.The team also picked up Harbhajan Singh at his base price of Rs2 crore and Shane Watson at Rs4 crore.

Day 2 will see the auction of unsold players like Chris Gayle.