Bengaluru: Ishan Kishan and Deepak Chahar clinched the most eye-popping deals as India's battle-hardened T20 exponents laughed their way to the bank on the opening day of IPL mega-auction where the franchises saved their highest bids for home-grown talent.
Kishan's Rs 15.25 crore winning bid from Mumbai Indians pipped the Rs 14 crore figure that CSK offered to retain Deepak Chahar on Saturday. Franchises showed prudence in overall spending but didn't hesitate to loosen the purse strings for proven performers, especially Indians.
In terms of US Dollars, there were 20 million-plus buys, the biggest by far at any IPL auction with most of the beneficiaries being Indian T20 specialists.
It was a satisfying 'Pay Day' for all current India internationals with Shreyas Iyer getting a staggering Rs 12.25 crore deal from Kolkata Knight Riders and the multi-skilled Shardul Thakur making Delhi Capitals break the bank with a Rs 10.75 crore.
End of Day 1_ at the #TATAIPLAuction saw players going for some huge amounts __
Day 2_ promises to be yet another exciting one __
Join us tomorrow for an action packed day _@TataCompanies pic.twitter.com/DyV8lIHssc
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) February 12, 2022
These two, along with Kishan and Chahar, were the top four buys of the day.
"I'm really excited to be back at MI. I know everyone has treated me there like a family so I am really happy to be there and I hope to give my best to the team. Thank you so much," said the 23-year-old Kishan in a video posted on his twitter handle.
The big-hitting Kishan made his India debut last year and has been a Mumbai Indians player all along, performing consistently well for the side.
Young pacer Prasidh Krishna (Rs 10 crore) was paid big by Rajasthan Royals for his timely Man of the Series performance against the West Indies while Washington Sundar, another India regular, got richer by Rs 8.75 crore.
He is the most expensive uncapped player ever - WOW
Congratulations @LucknowIPL @Avesh_6 pic.twitter.com/ppRQKE0T4u— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) February 12, 2022
One of the expected big buys was pacer Avesh Khan, who was bought by Lucknow Super Giants for Rs 10 crore, the highest in the history of IPL for uncapped players.
Yuzvendra Chahal would be a bit cross as he came late in the day and could only get Rs 6.5 crore from Rajasthan Royals.
Even Nitish Rana, not an Indian regular but an IPL performer, was retained for Rs 8 crore by KKR while the uncapped Rahul Tripathi, who has been consistent in the league, very deservingly crossed the million dollar mark at Rs 8.50 crore.
Shahrukh Khan, another formidable domestic T20 finisher but one with a base price of a mere Rs 20 lakh, was taken for a 'mic-drop' deal of Rs 9 crore by Punjab Kings.
Rajasthan's former one-season wonder Rahul Tewatia was lapped up by Gujarat Titans for a mind-boggling Rs 9 crore.
.@gujarat_titans - Well done! Congratulations @rahultewatia02 - He will be part of the Gujarat Titans __#TATAIPLAuction @TataCompanies pic.twitter.com/O3uKDhSnOa
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) February 12, 2022
It wasn't an auction to remember for the old guard and only two 35 plus players -- Shikhar Dhawan (Rs 8.25 crore, Punjab Kings) and Ravichandran Ashwin (Rs 5 crore, Rajasthan Royals) -- got good deals.
Among other seniors Mohammed Shami was taken by Gujarat Titans for Rs 6.25 crore. His new ball partner Bhuvneshwar Kumar got Rs 4.6 crore from Sunrisers.
While this was the last mega auction, what was impressive was the discretion that franchises used while buying players as the focus was on top Indian players available in the market and currently playing white-ball cricket.
For Chennai Super Kings, the aim was to follow Mahendra Sigh Dhoni's template and retain their core base of players as much as possible as they waited to buy back Deepak, another multi-skilled cricketer on ascendancy for India.
KKR retained eight out of their top first 11 players from last season but are still looking short in the fast bowling department.
Some serious firepower added in the @PunjabKingsIPL squad courtesy @shahrukh_35 #TATAIPLAuction @TataCompanies pic.twitter.com/YgRbn6DAwI
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) February 12, 2022
KKR didn't do too badly as they picked up Australian Test captain Pat Cummins at Rs 7.25 crore, which is less than half of what he was paid at last auction.
"To get back Pat Cummins at that price, we are very, very delighted. We thought he would go higher," KKR CEO Venky Mysore said.
"We could not be happier getting Cummins and Shreyas in the first round itself. Heart beats a bit more properly now, we can now have some fun looking at what else is going on," he added.
While Cummins is a captaincy candidate, he will not be available during the first two weeks even though Mysore didn't want to commit on captaincy.
"As far as captaincy is concerned, that's a decision our coach and the think-tank will take. Certainly, between Cummins and Shreyas, we have solid options for us. I'm sure the think-tank will make the right decisions," he added.
Below is a break down of key numbers
Total Money Spent by 10 franchises: Rs 3,88,10,00,000 (Rs 3.88 billion)
Total players sold: 74 (Overseas 20)
Biggest Buy at Auction: Ishan Kishan (India, Mumbai Indians) Rs 15.25 crore
CSK - Purse remainng - Rs 20.45 crore
Tushar Deshpande - Rs 20 lakh
Ambati Rayudu - Rs 6.75 crore
Deepak Chahar - Rs 14 crore
KM Asif - Rs 20 lakh
Dwayne Bravo - Rs 4.4 crore
Robin Uthappa - Rs 2 crore
Delhi Capitals - Purse remaining - Rs 16.50 crore
Shardul Thakur - Rs 10.75 crore
Mitchell Marsh - Rs 6.5 crore
Mustafizur Rahman - Rs 2 crore
KS Bharat - Rs 2 crore
David Warner - Rs 6.25 crore
Kuldeep Yadav - Rs 2 crore
Ashwin Hebbar - Rs 20 lakh
Kamlesh Nagakoti - Rs 1.1 crore
Sarfaraz Khan - Rs 20 lakh
Gujarat Titans Purse remaining- Rs 18.85 crore
Noor Ahmed - Rs 30 lakh
Jason Roy - Rs 2 crore
Mohammed Shami - Rs 6.25 crore
Rahul Tewatia - Rs 6.25 crore
Abhinav Sadarangini - Rs 2.6 crore
Lockie Ferguson - Rs 10 crore
KKR - Purse remaining - Rs 12.65 crore
Shivam Mavi - Rs 7.25 crore
Sheldon Jackson - Rs 60 lakh
Pat Cummins - Rs 7.25 crore
Shreyas Iyer - Rs 12.25 crore
Nitish Rana - Rs 8 crore
Lucknow Super Giants - Purse remaining- Rs 6.90 crore
Avesh Khan - Rs 10 crore
Quinton de Kock - Rs 6.75 crore
Mark Wood- Rs 7.5 crore
Manish Pandey - Rs 4.6 crore
Jason Hodler - Rs 8.75 crore
Deepak Hooda - Rs 5.75 crore
Krunal Pandya - Rs 8.25 crore
Ankit Singh Rajpoot - Rs 50 lakh
Mumbai Indians - Purse remaining - Rs 27.85 crore
Basil Thampi - Rs 30 lakh
Murugan Ashwin - Rs 1.6 crore
Dewald Brevis - Rs 3 crore
Ishan Kishan - Rs 15.25 crore
Punjab Kings - Purse remaining - Rs 28.65 crore
Jitesh Sharma - Rs 20 lakh
Shahrukh Khan - Rs 9 crore
Jonny Bairstow - Rs 6.75 crore
Harpreet Brar - Rs 3.8 crore
Shikhar Dhawan - Rs 8.25 crore
Ishan Porel - Rs 25 lakh
Kagiso Rabada - Rs 9.25 crore
Rahul Chahar - Rs 5.25 crore
Prabhsimran Singh - Rs 60 lakh
Rajasthan Royals - Purse remaining - Rs 12.15 crore
KC Cariappa - Rs 30 lakh
Riyan Parah - Rs 3.8 crore
Trent Boult - Rs 8 crore
R Ashwin - Rs 5 crore
Yuzvendra Chahal - Rs 6.5 crore
Shimron Hetmyer - Rs 8.5 crore
Prasidh Krishna - Rs 10 crore
Devdutt Padikkal - Rs 7.75 crore
Royal Challengers Bangalore - Purse remaining - Rs 9.25 crore
Faf du Plessis - Rs 7 crore
Anuj Rawat - Rs 3.4 crore
Josh Hazlewood - Rs 7.75 crore
Akash Deep - Rs 20 lakh
Shahbaz Ahmed - Rs 2.4 crore
Dinesh Karthik - Rs 5.5 crore
Harshal Patel - Rs 10.75 crore
Wanindu Hasaranga - Rs 10.75 crore
Sunrisers Hyderabad - Purse remaining - Rs 20.15 crore
Nicholas Pooran - Rs 10.75 crore
Jagadeesha Suchith - Rs 20 lakh
Shreyas Gopal - Rs 75 lakh
Kartik Tyagi - Rs 4 crore
Washinton Sundar - Rs 8.75 crore
Bhuvneshwar Kumar - Rs 4.2 crore
T Natarajan - Rs 4 crore
Priyam Garg - Rs 20 lakh
Abhishek Sharma - Rs 6.5 crore
Rahul Tripathi - Rs 8.5 crore
With PTI inputs
