English left-arm quick Sam Curran emerged the costliest overseas buy after being snapped up by the Kings XI Punjab for a whopping Rs 7.2 crore at the Indian Premier League (IPL) auction here on Tuesday.
After bagging little known mystery spinner Varun Chakaravarthy for a massive Rs 8.4 crore, the Punjab franchise further strengthened their bowling attack with the addition of Curran, and India's pace spearhead Mohammed Shami for Rs 4.8 crore.
Chakaravarthy, the Tamil Nadu leg spinner, was bought by the KXIP after an intense bidding war with Kolkata Knight Riders.
Earlier, inaugural IPL champions Rajasthan Royals were engaged in an intense battle with Delhi Capitals and later on with Chennai Super Kings before buying back left-arm paceman Jaydev Unadkat, whom they released for the auction. Unadkat is by far the joint costliest buy alongwith Chakaravarthy -- Rs 8.4 crore each.
Unadkat grabbed eye-balls last season when he became the highest paid Indian after being bought by the same franchise for a whopping Rs 11.5 crore.
Uncapped player Shivam Dube attracted a lot of attention as he was picked for Rs 5 crore by Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) while the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) bagged pacer Mohit Sharma for the same price.
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Mumbai all-rounder Dube had on Monday peeled off five sixes in five balls off left-arm spinner Swapnil Singh on the final day of their Ranji Trophy match against Baroda.
The Rajasthan Royals also bought Varun Aaron for Rs 2.40 crore.
After buying back Sri Lankan veteran Lasith Malinga for Rs 2 crore, Mumbai Indians got the services of left-armer Barinder Sran for Rs 3.4 crore.
Delhi Capitals bought veteran Ishant Sharma for Rs 1.1 crore before splurging Rs 6.4 crore for New Zealand hard-hitter Colin Ingram. Earlier, Axar Patel was also bought for Rs 5 crore by the Delhi franchise.
Delhi also bought all-rounder Hanuma Vihari for Rs 2 crore while West Indians Shimron Hetmyer and Nicolas Pooran were bought by Royal Challengers Bangalore and Kings XI Punjab, respectively for Rs 4.2 crore.
Another Caribbean star Carlos Brathwaite went for Rs 5 crore to the Kolkata Knight Riders.
KXIP also bagged the services of Australian all-rounder Moises Henriques for Rs 1 crore while the Sunrisers Hyderabad spent Rs 2.2 crore for English wicketkeeper-batsman Jonny Bairstow and Rs 1.2 crore for India's Test stumper Wriddhiman Saha.
Meanwhile, veteran Yuvraj Singh remained unsold from among the first set of players who went under the hammer.
The other stars who went unsold are Test specialist Cheteshwar Pujara, New Zealanders Martin Guptill, Brendon McCullum, James Neesham and Corey Anderson, Englishmen Chris Woakes, Alex Hales and Chris Jordan, South Africans Hashim Amla and Morne Morkel, and Sri Lanka's Angelo Mathews and Kusal Perera.
Aussie stumper Ben McDermott and India's Naman Ojha also failed to find any buyers from among the eight IPL franchises.
--IANS
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