This year’s IPL Auction was supposed to be lowkey and it is everything but lowkey. For this season, BCCI is hosting a mini-auction and it has been quite a session. In the last three hours, many cricketers have become millionaires courtesy of the mini bidding wars between all the franchises. The story for the halfway stage for these auctions has been Chris Morris, Glenn Maxwell, and Jhye Richardson.
Rajasthan Royals are well known for buying players at heavy dollars and this season, they have created some history. The Royals have bought Chris Morris at Rs 16.25 crores to make the South African the most costly pick in the history of the league. Apart from Morris, the franchise spent huge money for picking Shivam Dube at Rs 4.40 crores, Mustafizur Rahman for Rs 1 crore, and uncapped Chetan Sakariya for Rs 1.20 crores.
The new looking Punjab Kings had the biggest purse with Rs 53.20 crores, where the Kings utilized that money in some fashion. The franchise have bought Jhye Richardson by spending Rs 14 crores, Riley Meredith for Rs 8 crores, Moises Henriques for Rs 4.20 crores, and Dawid Malan for Rs. 1.50 crore. The Kings also showed some faith in the domestic talent as they got Shahrukh Khan at whopping prize money of Rs. 5.25 crores.
Royal Challengers Bangalore also spend great money and made headlines by picking the Kiwi pacer Kyle Jamieson for a thumping cost of Rs 15 crores and Glenn Maxwell at Rs 14.25 crores.
The Chennai derby was also busy at the auction table as they were involved in many bidding battles. Chennai Superkings picked Krishnappa Gowtham for a booming cost of Rs 9.25 crores and Moeen Ali for Rs 7 crores. They also got the Indian Test specialist Cheteshwar Pujara at his base price.
While MI, DC, and SRH were the calmest franchises at the event. Mumbai Indians ticked their list by picking Nathan Coulter Nile and Piyush Chawla for Rs 5 crores and Rs 2.4 crores, respectively. Delhi Capitals clinched Tom Curran at Rs. 5.25 crores, Steve Smith for Rs 2.2 crores and Umesh Yadav for Rs 1 crore. Whereas, Sunrisers Hyderbad just got one pick, Jagadeesha Suchith at Rs. 30 lakhs.Â