NEW DELHI: Ajinkya Rahane was the first big name to be bagged on day two of the Indian Premier League (IPL) mega auction on Sunday, which was resumed by back-up auctioneer and noted commentator Charu Sharma as the designated auctioneer Hugh Edmeades continues to recover from a bout of postural hypotension (low blood pressure). But it was England's Liam Livingstone who triggered a bidding war and got big bucks in his bank account.
Rahane, who has been struggling with his batting form for some time, came into the pool at a base price of Rs 1 crore and found the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) as the only bidder for him. In stark contrast, Livingstone was fought for fiercely by the Punjab Kings and the Gujarat Titans.
But Punjab seemed determined to have the Englishman in their camp and shelled out Rs 11.5 crore to ensure that.
The day began with South African batsman Aiden Markram going to Sunrisers Hyderabad for Rs 2.6 crore. Mandeep Singh will now be seen in the Delhi Capitals colours. His final bidding price stood at Rs 1.10 crore. But his country-mate Shivam Dube took home Rs 4 crore and will play for the Chennai Super Kings. At the last auction, all-rounder Dube got Rs 4.4 crore from Rajasthan.
Jamaican all-rounder Odean Smith was also hotly bid for, which resulted in fetching him Rs 6 crore. The West Indian will play for Punjab Kings. South Africa's Marco Jansen was bought by the Sunrisers for Rs 4.2 crore.
The accelerated auction process started with Royal Challengers Bangalore resigning New Zealand's Finn Allen for Rs 80 lakh. Allen's compatriot Devon Conway was then bought by Chennai Super Kings for base price Rs 1 crore. After a brief bidding war, Delhi Capitals picked up West Indian Rovman Powell for Rs 2.8 crore.
Another bidding war ensued for Jofra Archer, base price Rs 2 crore, between Mumbai Indians and Sunrisers Hyderabad, with the English pacer going to MI for a winning bid of Rs 8 crore. Archer is unlikely to feature in the 2022 edition due to injury, but remained a hot property due to the three-year contract binding through this auction.
MI went big for Singapore's much-travelled batter Tim David, who played for RCB in the last season, and won him for a whopping Rs 8.25 crore. They then signed Australian allrounder Daniel Sams, another former RCB player, for Rs 2.6 crore. The five-time champions also bought Tymal Mills and Riley Meredith for Rs 1.5 crore and Rs 1 crore respectively.
CSK kept the services of New Zealand spinner Mitchell Santner, resigning him for Rs 1.9 crore. Santner's country mate pacer Adam Milne also joined the Chennai team for Rs 1.9 crore. CSK bought Dwaine Pretorius for his base price Rs 50 lakh. They then added Chris Jordan for Rs 3.6 crore.
Punjab Kings outbid KKR to sign Himachal Pradesh pacer Vaibhav Arora for Rs 2 crore, which was ten times his base price of Rs 20 lakh. CSK then bought the Mumbai spinner Prashant Solanki for Rs 1.2 crore.
After a fierce bidding war, SRH bought West Indian Romario Shepherd for a whopping Rs 7.75 crore, more than ten times his base price of Rs 75 lakh. SRH added Australian allrounder Sean Abbott to their squad for Rs 2.4 crore after a bidding war with Punjab Kings. They then bought Glenn Phillips for his base price of Rs 1.5 crore.
Gujarat Titans opened their account in the accelerated session with the signing of West Indies pacer Alzarri Joseph for Rs 2.4 crore. Titans added David Miller and Matthew Wade as their next overseas players for Rs 3 crore and Rs 2.4 crore respectively. They then bought experienced wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha for Rs 1.9 crore.
KKR bought Sam Billings and Alex Hales for Rs 2 crore and Rs 1.5 crore respectively. Both at their base prices.
Lucknow Super Giants grabbed West Indian Evin Lewis for his base price of Rs 2 crore. Rajasthan Royals bought Karun Nair for Rs 1.4 crore.
Delhi Capitals won the bid for uncapped allrounder Lalit Yadav for Rs 65 lakh. They then added Ripal Patel for his base price of Rs 20 lakh. The Delhi franchise also snapped up India 2022 under-19 World Cup winning skipper Yash Dhull for Rs 50 lakh.
Mumbai Indians dished out Rs 1.7 crore to sign young N Tilak Varma (base price Rs 20 lakh), who was part of India under-19 squad for the 2020 ICC World Cup. Royal Challengers Bangalore bought former Rajasthan Royals player Mahipal Lomror for Rs 95 lakh.
Another 2022 under-19 World Cup star Raj Angad Bawa, who won the Man-of-the-Match in the final, fetched big bucks, getting Rs 2 crore from Punjab Kings. Bawa's pace partner Rajvardhan Hangargekar was then bought by Chennai Super Kings for Rs 1.5 crore. Both had a base price of Rs 20 lakh.
Gujarat Titans then splurged Rs 3.2 crore for the services of Uttar Pradesh pacer Yash Dayal, who had a base price of Rs 20 lakh.
However, many of the big players, namely T20 international captains Eoin Morgan of England and Australia's Aaron Finch, joined the list of unsold players. Marnus Labuschagne, Saurabh Tiwary, Cheteshwar Pujara and Chris Jordan also went unsold. They, however, can be brought back into the bidding pool at the end of the auction.
Utility Indian players Jayant Yadav and Vijay Shankar were both sold to Gujarat Titans for Rs 1.70 crore and Rs 1.40 crore respectively.
Bowling all-rounder K Gowtham was the last player brought into the auction from the first set on Sunday. His final price tag stood at Rs 90 lakh, paid by the Lucknow franchise.
The next set included the fast bowlers.
Ishant Sharma was first in that list at a base price of Rs 1.5 crore, but he found no bidders.
Left-arm pacer Khaleel Ahmed earned the Delhi Capitals jersey, as the franchise paid Rs 5.25 crore to get him in their dugout. His base price was Rs 50 lakh. He had fetched Rs 3 crore from Sunrisers Hyderabad previously.
Sri Lanka's right-arm pacer Dushmantha Chameera was bought for Rs 2 crore by Lucknow Super Giants, but South Africa's Lungi Ngidi went unsold at a base price of Rs 50 lakh.
Chetan Sakariya also benefitted from being an Indian left-arm pacer, as his winning bid ended at Rs 4.20 crore, up from his base price of Rs 50 lakh. Last time, he got Rs 1.2 crore when Rajasthan bought him.
Swing bowler Sandeep Sharma once again got the Punjab Kings interested as the table led by co-owner Ness Wadia paid Rs 50 lakh to get him back in their line-up.
Navdeep Saini, whose name came up next, also generated decent amount of interest and ended up adding Rs 2.6 crore to his fortune. He will be a Rajasthan 'royal' from now on.
Jaydev Unadkat was bought by Mumbai Indians for Rs 1.30 crore, after a brief contest with Chennai Super Kings.
Next was the chance of spinners to find bidders.
Leg-spinner Mayank Markande was the first in that list, and Mumbai Indians fetched him for Rs 65 lakh.
Shahbaz Nadeem went to Lucknow for Rs 50 lakh and Sri Lanka's Maheesh Theekshana to Chennai for Rs 70 lakh. But New Zealander Ish Sodhi and India's Piyush Chawal remained unsold.
Among the uncapped batsmen that came up in the next set, Uttar Pradesh's Rinku Singh was the first to wake up bidders. KKR got him for Rs 55 lakh. His base price was Rs 20 lakh.
Manan Vohra was the last player bought before the lunch break on day two, going to Lucknow Super Giants for his base price of Rs 20 lakh.
