IPL Auction 2018: Ben Stokes ends day 1 as costliest buy at 12.5 crores, Root-Gayle among unsold

England all-rounder Ben Stokes demonstrated he remains cricket`s hot property despite his off-field troubles after being sold for $1.97 million in Saturday`s auction ahead of this year`s Indian Premier League (IPL) Twenty20 tournament.

Rajasthan Royals offered 125 million Indian rupees for the 26-year-old who has been charged with affray following an incident in Bristol last September which cost him a place on England`s Ashes tour of Australia.

"Buzzing to be representing @rajasthanroyals in this years IPL and great to be playing alongside @josbuttler," tweeted Stokes, who was judged IPL`s Most Valuable Player last year when he represented the Pune franchise.

Stokes reunites with Australia captain Steve Smith, who was also at Pune last year. Rajasthan and Chennai return to the league after a two-year suspension following a corruption scandal.
National team mate and wicketkeeper Jos Buttler joined Stokes at Rajasthan but England captain Joe Root found no taker on the opening day of the two-day auction.

The eight franchises also showed no interest in West Indies opener Chris Gayle and fellow Twenty20 stalwart Lasith Malinga of Sri Lanka who is the leading wicket-taker in the tournament`s decade-old history.

Hyderabad used their right-to-match option to retain Rashid Khan for 90 million rupees after Punjab made an aggressive bid for the teenaged Afghan spinner.

Australian players, once again, earned big bucks ahead of the 11th edition of the Twenty20 league beginning in April.

Kolkata bought Australia`s limited overs specialist Chris Lynn for 96 million rupees and their Ashes hero Mitchell Starc for 94 million, while Delhi secured the service of all-rounder Glenn Maxwell for 90 million.

Sussex all-rounder Jofra Archer`s stellar Big Bash performance for Hobart Hurricanes made him the subject of a fierce bidding war which ended with Rajasthan buying the Barbados-born player for 72 million rupees, 18 times his base price.

Among the Indians, batsmen Manish Pandey (Hyderabad) and Lokesh Rahul (Punjab) went for 110 million rupees.

The other players' auction list is as follows: 

England's Ben Stokes dominated the day 1 of IPL auction 2018 as he was snapped up for a whopping Rs 12.5 crore ($ 1.96 million) by Rajasthan Royals after Kings XI Punjab, Chennai Super Kings also engaged in a fierce bidding war.

Stokes fetched the biggest price at the Indian Premier League auction for a second straight year as three Australians landed in the top six most expensive players. 

The affray charge hanging over the all-rounder's head which kept him out of England's failed Ashes campaign and the one-day series against Australia didn't deter the IPL franchise while bidding for him.

The other players' auction list is as follows: 

IPL Auction 2018: Rashid Khan retained by Hyderabad, Shami-Rabada to again play for Delhi

Surya Kumar is sold to Mumbai for Rs. 3.20 Cr.

Next up are the uncapped batsmen.

Kolkata uses their RTM to retain Kuldeep Yadav for Rs. 5.80 Cr.

RCB use their RTM to retain Yuzvendra Chahal for Rs. 6.00 Cr.

Whereas, Adam Zampa remains unsold.

Samuel Badree remains unsold.

Amit Mishra is sold to Delhi Daredevils for Rs. 4.0 Cr.

Nice catch Orange Army!!!

Punjab won the bidding war to claim Rashid Khan but SRH used it RTM to retain him for Rs. 9.0 Cr.

The most awaited bid is up!!!

Rashid Khan

RTM is available with Hyderabad.

English bowler Ish Sodhi remains unsold.

Piyush Chawla to go under the hammer.

Next set is for spin bowlers.

Mitchell McClenaghan remains unsold.

Lasith Malinga remains unsold.

Umesh Yadav is sold to RCB for Rs. 4.2 Cr.

Tim Southee remains unsold.

Ishant Sharma remains unsold.

Next up is Umesh Yadav.

Pat Cummins is sold to Mumbai Indians for Rs. 5.4 Cr.

Next up is Pat Cummins.

Australian Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Johnson are remaining unsold.

Mustafizur Rahman, a Bangladeshi pacer, is sold to Mumbai Indians for Rs. 2.2 Cr.

Jos Buttler is sold to Rajasthan for Rs. 4.4 Cr.

This set is over, next set is of fast bowlers.

Sam Billings remains unsold.

Ambati Rayudu is sold to Chennai Super Kings for Rs. 2.2 Cr.

Sanju Samson goes to Rajasthan for Rs. 8.0 Cr.

KKR use their RTM to retain Robin Uthappa and is sold to KKR for Rs. 6.4 Cr.

Naman Ojha remains unsold.

Next wicket-keeper batsman is Dinesh Karthik from India.

And is sold to KKR for Rs. 7.4 Cr.

Next bid is for Quinton de Kock and is sold to Rs. 2.8 Cr.

Parthiv Patel remains unsold.

IPL 2018 Auction: KXIP snaps up Ashwin, KL Rahul for 7.60 crores, 11 crores respectively

It's time for the wicket-keepers.

Australian pacer Marcus Stoinis is next.

RTM is available with Kings XI Punjab.

Stuart Binny sold at his base price, that is 50 lakhs to Rajasthan Royals.

Yusuf Pathan is sold to Sunrisers Hyderabad for Rs. 1.90 Cr.

RTM is available with KKR for Yusuf Pathan.

Next up is Australian all-rounder James Faulkner but as there is no bid hence, remains unsold.

Kedar Jadhav is sold to Chennai Super Kings for Rs. 7.80 Cr, and Colin de Grandhomme to RCB for Rs. 2.20 Cr.

That concludes set no. 3

Manish Pandey is sold to Sunrisers Hyderabad for Rs 11.0 Cr

Martin Guptill remains UNSOLD

Right to Match is available to Kolkata Knight Riders for Manish Pandey.

Next bid is for Manish Pandey.

Shocking!!!

Hashim Amla remains unsold.

RCB jumped between Delhi and Kolkata but Daniel Vettori gave up at Rs 9.0 Cr.

So, finally, Chris Lynn is sold to Kolkata Knight Riders for Rs. 9.6 Cr.

Jason Roy is sold to Delhi on base price Rs 1.5 Cr.

No bid for Jason Roy.

The bid is going on for Brendon McCullum.

Delhi jumps in between and goes against RCB to purchase star batsman McCullum.

Aaron Finch sold to Kings XI Punjab for Rs 6.2 Cr

Quite a bid!!!

Punjab has used its first RTM for David Miller.

What is RTM (Right to match)?

The teams have already announced the names of the players they wanted to retain (maximum three players per team) ahead of the auction and while majority of the players are part of the auction, the teams can still retain the core by using the Right to Match (RTM) card(s) during the auction.

Mumbai Indians made the highest bid for Miller but he is retained by Kings XI Punjab for Rs 3.0 Cr.

Next up

Player no. 22 from South Africa which is David Miller.

As Murli Vijay remains unsold.

Next up is Murli Vijay.

KL Rahul sold to Kings XI Punjab for Rs 11 Cr.

Karun Nair sold to Kings XI Punjab for Rs 5.60n Cr.

Karun Nair up next (Base price Rs 50 lakhs)

The bid is on between Rajasthan and Punjab.

Capped batsmen up next

Seems like, Rajasthan Royals has created another Rising Pune Super Giants.

Ben Stokes is the most expensive purchase till now (Rs 12.5)

Till now Chennai Super Kings has done really well.

Joe Root remains unsold!!!

Chennai is spending well!!!

Retained DJ Bravo for Rs 6.40 Cr.

Gautam Gambhir is selling

Glenn Maxwell is earning huge...

850...880...

The bid is on!!!

No place for Bhajji in Mumbai!!!

That's sad.

Harbhajan Singh sold to Chennai Super Kings for Rs 2.0 Cr.

What is RTM (Right to match)?

The teams have already announced the names of the players they wanted to retain (maximum three players per team) ahead of the auction and while majority of the players are part of the auction, the teams can still retain the core by using the Right to Match (RTM) card(s) during the auction.

Chennai is not letting go their old players as they have used RTM to retain Faffy for Rs 1.60 Crores.

Faf Du Plessis will play for Chennai Super Kings.

It's time for Big Ben

One the most favourite, Ben Stokes.

1 2 3...And sold to Rajasthan Royals for 12.5 Crores.

Next up, the run machine, Chris Gayle.

Remains unsold!!!

The third player to go under the hammer is Kieron Pollard.

Mumbai Indians uses RTM to get Kieron Pollard.

First player sold!!!

Sunrisers Hyderabad uses RTM to get Shikhar Dhawan for INR 520 lakhs.

READ: All eyes on marquee players

There are 16 players awarded marquee status and those are: Glenn Maxwell, Mitchell Starc, Benjamin Stokes, Ravichandran Ashwin, Shikhar Dhawan, Christopher Gayle, Kieron Pollard, Ajinkya Rahane, Dwayne Bravo, Gautam Gambhir, Harbhajan Singh, Kane Williamson, Faf Du Plessis, Joe Root, Shakib Al Hasan and Yuvraj Singh.

READ: Complete players' list and their base price

After the IPL retention process, the franchises now have a trimmed purse. Rajasthan Royals (67.5 cr), Kings XI Punjab (67.5 cr), Sunrisers Hyderabad (59 cr), Kolkata Knight Riders (59 cr), Chennai Super Kings (47 cr), Delhi Daredevils (47 cr), Royal Challengers Bangalore (49 cr), Mumbai Indians (47 cr).

Richard Madley, the man who has hosted auctions for 11 straight years, has taken over the proceedings. He informs that 581 players will be up for grabs in the next two days.

IPL commissioner Rajiv Shukla gives a speech welcoming all the franchise owners and the stakeholders.

The IPL 2018 auction is taking place in Bengaluru today where a total of 578 players will go under the hammer.

A fierce bidding war is expected as Indian stars Gautam Gambhir, off-spinners Ravichandran Ashwin and Harbhajan Singh, Ajinkya Rahane, mystery spinner Kuldeep Yadav and openers KL Rahul and Murali Vijay will be on the franchises’ radar.

The list also includes the overseas players, including Glenn Maxwell, Chris Gayle, Shane Watson, Rashid Khan and Eoin Morgan. 

In the 10th season, Mumbai Indians led by Rohit Sharma defeated Pune to lift the IPL trophy for the third time.

The 11th season of the much-awaited Indian Premier League will begin on 6th April 2018.