IPL Auction 2017 held today in Bengaluru and the day was full of twists, turns and surprises. Many players capped and uncapped became billionaires. Below is the headlines and recap of today's auction.
Total Players Sold:
Sixty Six Players were bought in this year's auction. Out of 66, 39 were Indians, 27 overseas. Gujarat Lions bought the most players with a count of 11 with Royal Challengers Bangalore with the least of 5.
Total Amount Spent:
A total of INR 91.15 crore was spent by the eight franchises, which translates to roughly INR 1.38 crore per player. In all, INR 24.75 crore were spent on Indian players (INR 63 lakh per player approx.) and INR 66.4 crore on their overseas counterparts (INR 2.45 crore per player approx.).
Three Players from Associate teams bought in this auction – Afghanistan's Rashid Khan (INR 4 crore) and Mohammad Nabi (INR 30 lakh) and UAE's Chirag Suri (INR 10 lakh). Rashid and Nabi went to Sunrisers Hyderabad while Suri was acquired by Gujarat Lions. Previously, only one Associate player had featured in IPL and that is Netherlands' Ryan ten Doeschate.
Players Who Took IPL Auction By Storm:
INR 14.5 crore Ben Stokes's selling price in INR, making him the most expensive overseas player ever bought at an IPL auction. He went to Rising Pune Supergiants. Since 2015 – when INR became the currency of the IPL auction – only Yuvraj Singh's INR 16 crore bid by Delhi Daredevils has topped Stokes'. Stokes' paycheck in USD is approximately 2.16 million.
INR 12 crore Tymal Mills' price tag, the highest for any bowler in IPL history. Mills is 24-years old and a T20 specialist. He made his debut for England last year and is noted for the ability to clock 145 kph and mix it up with especially deceptive slower balls. Mills' paycheck in USD is 1.79 million.
Son of a farmer, T Natarajan has hit the jackpot, 30 The selling price to base price ratio of T Natarajan, the highest in this year's auction. The 25-year old left-arm fast bowler – who has played only 5 T20s so far – was acquired by Mumbai Indians for INR 3 crore from a base price of INR 10 lakh.
Team Who Filled Their Quota
3 Teams have completed their quota of 27 players – 18 Indian and nine overseas – Gujarat Lions, Kings XI Punjab and Mumbai Indians. Kolkata Knight Riders have the smallest squad – 23 players.
Costliest Indian Player
The costliest Indian buy was Karn Sharma, who went to Mumbai for INR 3.2 crore. Twenty-two players raked in bids of INR 1 crore and above, out of which 14 were foreign players.
2 Uncapped overseas players picked up at this year's auction – West Indies' Rovman Powell and UAE's Chirag Suri. There were 30 other uncapped players who landed an IPL franchise, but all of them were Indians. Only nine capped Indian players were sold out in the auction.
This year IPL will have fun with lots of new players are there and in 2018 all players will go through auction. Cricket fever will start from April 5th 2017.