IPL 2017 auction: Uncapped players enjoy high bidding by teams

Afghan bowler Rashid Khan Arman goes to SRH for Rs 4 crore

The Indian Premier League (IPL) auction began in Bengaluru on Monday. Catch the action live with Business Standard.

13.30: Uncapped players see action too

Uncapped players were not to be left behind when it came to bidding in the ongoing IPL player auction. Not only did they have takers, some of the players saw some heated bidding by the teams too. Afghanistan’s Rashid Khan Arman was the costliest uncapped player at Rs 4 crore (reserve price 50 lakh), followed by T Natrajan at Rs 3 crore (base price Rs 10 lakh). While the Afghan was picked up by Sunrisers Hyderabad, Natarajan will play for Kings XI Punjab.

Natrajan however was bid for by four teams. The bid started with Rising Pune Supergiant who were joined by the Punjab team. While Pune bowed out at Rs 95 lakh. Punjab fought it out till the end even after Kolkata and Hyderabad came forward. Kolkata gave up the chase at Rs 1.5 crore at which point Hyderbad entered the playing field, but had to bow out when Kings XI Punjab refused to cower even at Rs 3 crore, thus picking up the Indian uncapped bowler in the end. 

Indian all-rounder K Gowtham stirred things up as Mumbia Indians, Sunrisher Hyderabad and Kolkata Knightriders fought for him. Starting the bidding for the all-rounder were the Mumbai Indians who were then joined by Kolkata. The Knightriders however bowed out at Rs 1.7 crore bid by the Indians when Sunrisers entered the bidding. They however also bowed out ultimately, giving Mumbai the winning bid at Rs 2 crore. In all, the teams spent nearly Rs 11 crore on uncapped players.

In the second batch of capped players, fast bowlers and all-rounders continued to be more sough after than wicketkeepers and batsmen. English all-rounder Chris Woakes (reserve price Rs 2 crore), went to Kolkata Knightriders after the SRK owned team battled it out with Surisers Hyderabad while Indian all-rounder Karn Sharma was snapped up by Mumbai Indians after a brief bidding war with Gujarat Lions. Sharma is the sole Indian players in the list of top buys so far. Fast bowler Varun Aron was picked up by Kings XI Punjab for Rs 2.8 crore after both Gujarat and Delhi bowed out of the bidding. 

When the auction broke for lunch, a total of 108 players had gone under the hammer. Post lunch, the accelerated bidding process will start. In this case, the teams can each ask for 20 players yet unsold (including the ones not offered yet) to be brought back or brought up for auction.

11.00 am: Tymal Mills goes to RCB for Rs 12 crore

Tymal  Mills was in demand as four teams bid for him, ultimately going to RCB for Rs 12 crore. A total of Rs 6.9 crore was spent in acquiring fast bowlers while wicketkeepers seemed out of favour as only one out of the batch of six found a buyer, that too at base price. 

KKR entered the bidding for the first time this season with  Trent Boult. The Knightriders have just four overseas players in the squad currently and need more players from abroad. They were joined in the bid battle by Mumbai Indians who bowed out at KKR’s bid of Rs 5 crore. Boult played for the Hyderabad team in 2016 and this year, will don the KKR jersey.

English bowler Tymal Mills saw some aggressive bidding as well as Mumbai Indians and Kings XI Punjab held their ground against each other. Both the teams did not shy from upping the stakes till Mumbai bowed out at Punjab’s bid of Rs 7 crore. At this point, the bid war between KKR and RCB started. RCB came out a winner with a bid of Rs 12 crore. 

Australian Patrick Cummins was fought over by Sunrisers Hyderabad and Delhi Daredevil, the former opening the bid at the reserve price of Rs 2 crore. They however bowed out at Rs 4.5 crore, thus giving Delhi the winning bid and Cummins’ services for the 2017 edition. Fellow Australian Mitchell Johnson was up next (base price Rs 2 crore). Mumbai Indians opened the bid for the fast bowler and snapped him up at reserve price. 

10.30 am: Ben Stokes goes to Pune for Rs 14.5 crore

England all-rounder Ben Stokes was the costliest buy after the first round of IPL players' auction today, going to Rising Pune Supergiants for a whopping Rs 14.50 crore ($2.16 million) after an intense bidding war. Pune Supergiants, who  removed Mahendra Singh Dhoni from captaincy, entered late into the bidding at Rs 13 crore and clinched the deal at Rs 14.50 crore defeating bids from Mumbai Indians, Delhi Daredevils, Royal Challengers Bangalore and Sunrisers Hyderabad.

Ben Stokes, who has never played in the IPL yet and was available at a base price of Rs 2 crore, was instantly bid for by the Mumbai Indians. The all-rounder now enjoys the distinction of being the most expensive overseas player in the IPL at Rs 14.5 crore.

The Neeta Ambani led team seemed adamant to have him as they stood their own despite Delhi Daredevils upping the stakes after RCB, bowed out at Rs 4 crore. Even with just Rs 11.55 crore in the purse, the Mumbai Indian seemed hell bent on getting the English all-rounder, bidding up to Rs 9.5 crore for him. They finally bowed out at Rs 10.5 crore bid by the Daredevils, at which point SRJ joined the bidding. 

Delhi and Hyderabad battled for the player till the latter’s bid of Rs 13 crore, at which point Delhi exited the bidding. However, Pune entered the playground then, the fifth team to vie for the all-rounder. Hyderabad bowed out at Pune’s bid of Rs 14.5 crore, which was final bid. Surprisingly, Kolkata, with the least foreign players in the squad, did not bid for the player. The bid leaves Pune with less than Rs 5 crore for the rest of the auction. Stokes' bidding is significantly higher than last year's highest bid - Shane Watson who went to the RCB for Rs 9.5 crore.

All-rounder Pawan Negi, among the most sought after in the 2016 auction, opened the round for all-rounders. At Rs 30 lakh, he attracted bids from Rising Pune Supergiants and Gujarat Lions. After some back and forth between the two teams, Pune bowed out at Rs 55 lakh bid by Gujarat, at which point RCB entered the arena. The bidding heated a up bit after that, with Gujarat bowing out at RCB’s bud of Rs 80 lakh. A new team entered the bid at this point in the form of SunRisers Hyderabad. The RCB, however, kept at it, and picked him up at Rs 1 crore in the end. 

Also up for grabs was Sri Lankan Angelo Mathews. The all-rounder went to the Daredevils at reserve price (Rs 2 crore). Indian all-rounder who was with the Supergiants last year, was the next to be auctioned and he remained unsold at Rs 50 lakh. Corey Anderson was sold to Delhi at base price (Rs 1 crore) while Australian Sean Abbot remained unsold. Chris Jordan from England had no better luck attracting bids, and remained unsold.

10.15 am: Only one player in the first batch sold

Martin Guptill was the first to be auctioned. At a reserve price of Rs 50 lakh, he remained unsold. Next up was English one-day international captain Eoin Morgan. Kings XI Punjab picked him up at base price, being the only bidders. 

English T-20 player Jason Roy was the third player up for bidding. Available at Rs 1 crore, the batsman remained unsold in the first round. Indian batsman Faiz Fazal was up next. His reserve price was set at Rs 30 lakh. Despite the low base price, Fazal remained unsold. The next in line was Alex Hales (reserve price Rs 1 crore) and the English batsman joined the others in the list of unsold players as did New Zealand batsman Ross Taylor (Rs 50 lakh). Saurabh Tiwary at Rs 30 lakh too went unsold. 

10.00 am: Teams spoilt for choice as 358 players up for grabs

With less than Rs 150 crore to spend, the IPL teams this year are going to have to be shrewd in today’s auction. On the other hand, with 358 players up for grabs, the teams would be spoilt for choice if nothing else.

Seven players – one batsman (Eoin Morgan), three bowlers (Ishant Sharma, Patrick Cummins and Mitchell Johnson) and three all-rounders (Chris Woakes, Angelo Mathews and Benjamin Stokes) have made themselves available at a base price of Rs 2 crore. in the past, the players with the maximum base price have been among the most aggressively bid for (Kevin Pietersen, Yuvraj Singh, Dinesh Karthik for example), but this year, they may as well go at more conservative prices, or not be sold at all feel experts.

For example, Mumbai Indians have just Rs 11.5 crore at their disposal, so a bidding war may well be out of the question. On the other hand, Kolkata Knight Riders go into the auction with just four overseas players and need to acquire at least two more. With Rs 19.75 crore at their disposal, one of the overseas players may see some aggressive bidding by the Shah Rukh Khan owned team. 

Delhi Daredevils go into the auction with Rs 23.1 crore and could be seen bidding heavily for fast bowlers (Ishant Sharma would be an obvious choice) since their line-up lacks one. Kings XI Punjab, with the most to spend at Rs 23.35 crore have five overseas players on the roster, and could be seen bidding for one heavily. Defending champions, SunRisers Hyderabad have Rs 20.9 crore and could be seen bidding for an Indian player and overseas players, having released Eoin Morgan and Trent Boult. 

A significant number of players from the England team are available for the auction this time, which would ideally be good news for the teams. However, eight of them are available at base prices between Rs 1 to 2 crore, with the exception of Ben Stokes and Jason Roy.