BENGALURU, Jan 27: Indian players dominated the bidding wars as KL Rahul and Manish Pandey laughed their way to the bank with multi-million dollar deals but England all-rounder Ben Stokes once again emerged the costliest buy in the IPL auctions, here today.
Despite all the off-field controversies, Stokes was snapped up for a whopping Rs 12.5 crore (USD 1.96 million) by Rajasthan Royals after Kings XI Punjab, Chennai Super Kings also engaged in a fierce bidding war.
The franchises were smart in their choices with most of the current India players attracting significant interest. Stylish opener Rahul and middle-order batsman Pandey bagged deals worth Rs 11 crore (USD 1.73 million) from Kings XI Punjab and Sunrisers Hyderabad respectively.
With their prices skyrocketing, the two players� original franchises RCB and KKR didn�t use their Right To Match (RTM) cards.
The Karnataka players had a field day at the auctions with India discard Karun Nair also triggering a bidding war before Kings XI Punjab got him for Rs 5.60 crore.
Kedar Jadhav, one of Mahendra Singh Dhoni�s �Go To Man� during his last stint as India captain, also fetched a healthy price of Rs 7.80 crore for his all-round qualities of batting, round-arm off-spin and back-up wicket-keeping. He was snapped by the Dhoni-led Chennai Super Kings.
Chennai, however, didn�t bid vigorously for Ravichandran Ashwin, who will now ply his trade for Kings XI Punjab at a salary of Rs 7.60 crore.
Interestingly, Chennai Super Kings roped in Harbhajan Singh at his base price of Rs 2 crore (USD 315,000).
But none came close to Stokes, who has been struck with controversies of late and was dropped from the England Ashes squad following a pub brawl. He has even been charged in the matter now.
Stokes was bought for Rs 14.5 crore (USD 2.28 million) by Rising Pune Supergiants during the last auctions, and proved to be a worthy buy with his all-round performance taking the team to the final. � PTI
