IPL auction 2018: Ben Stokes goes to Royals for Rs 12.5 cr. Kings XI snaffle Ashwin, Gayle unsold

Bengaluru, January 27: England all-rounder Ben Stokes became the first super rich to come out of the IPL auction 2018, getting picked up Rajasthan Royals for Rs 12.5 crore but West Indian power hitter Chris Gayle remained unsold, not so surprisingly.

India opener Shikhar Dhawan was the first to go under the hammer and was retained by Sunrisers Hyderabad for Rs 5.2 crore via the Right to Match card (RTM).

Chennai Super Kings had said they will retain Ashwin as a priority but did not do so as Kings XI Punjab picked up India offie for a sumptous Rs 7.6 crore.

Meanwhile, Australian pace spearhead Mitchell Starc was picked up by Kolkata Knight Riders for Rs 9.4 crore and India middle order batsman Ajinkya Rahane stayed with Rajasthan Royals for Rs 4 crore.

Later, Harbhajan Singh went to Chennai Super Kings for his base price of Rs 2 crore as Mumbai Indians, a team that he was part of since 2008, did not bid for quite on the expected lines.

Glenn Maxwell went to Delhi Daredevils for a whopping Rs 9 crore as his former team Kings XI Punjab did not use the RTM. Gautam Gambhir, the former Kolkata Knight Riders captain, too will have a new team this year in the form of his home franchise Delhi Daredevils.

The Chennai Super Kings exercised their RTM to retain West Indian all-rounder Dwayne Bravo for Rs 6.4 crore. The CSK did not use that option for Ashwin earlier. England captain Joe Root remained unsold.

While Yuvraj Singh went to his home team Kings XI Punjab for his base price of Rs 2 crore as Sunrisers Hyderabad did not use the RTM card.

Karnataka batsman Karun Nair who started with a base price of Rs 50 lakh made giant strides and was sold to Rs 5.60 crore.

Another Karnataka lad K L Rahul, started fro the base price of Rs 2 crore, saw intense bidding for him between Kings XI and Sunrisers Hyderabad before the former getting him in the house for Rs 11 crore. While India Test opener M Vijay remained unsold.

David Miller was retained by Kings XI using RTM while Australian opener Aaron Finch too went to Punjab for Rs 6.2 crore.

Dashing former New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum was sold to Royal Challengers Bangalore, a team against which he made that huge hundred in 2008, for Rs 3.6 crore. Australian all-rounder Chris Lynn too made it big as KKR shopped him for Rs 9.6 crore.

South African batsman Hashim Amla remained unsold. While Karnataka batsman Manish Pandey took off from his base price of Rs 1 crore and sold for a massive Rs 11 crore.

RCB grabbed English all-rounder Chris Woakes for Rs 7.40 cr. Aussie Shane Watson went to Chennai for Rs 4 crore.

India all-rounder Kedar Jadhav was sold to CSK for Rs 7.80 crore. Multiple IPL title winner Yusuf Pathan continued to be in demand despite being in the mid 30s and modest outing, getting sold to SRH for Rs 1.9 cr.

Karnataka all-rounder was sold to Rs 50 lakh to Rajasthan Royals as RCB refrained from using RTM. Aussie all-rounder Marcus Stoinis was retained by Kings XI through RTM for Rs 6.2 cr. England all-rounder Moeen Ali went to RCB for Rs 1.70 crore.

In the first bid after the post lunch session, India wicketkeeper Parthiv Patel remained unsold. SA stumper Quinton de Kock will play for RCB at Rs 2.8 crore. India Test stumper Wridhhiman Saha went to SRH for Rs 5 crore.

Dinesh Karthik to KKR at Rs 7.40 crore.

Robin Uthappa to KKR at Rs 6.40 crore via RTM

Sanju Samson to RR for Rs 8 crore

A Rayudu to CSK for Rs 2.2 crore

Jos Butler to RR for Rs 4 crore

Pat Cummins to MI for Rs 5.4 crore

Umesh Yadav to RCB for Rs 4.2 crore

Mohd Shami to DD for Rs 3 crore (RTM)

Kagiso Rabada to DD for Rs 4.20 crore (RTM)

Piyush Chawla to KKR for Rs 4.20 crore (RTM)

Karn Sharma to CSK for Rs 5 crore

Rashid Khan (Afghanistan) to SRH for Rs 9 crore (RTM)