IPL 2017 Auction: 10 most expensive picks

The auction for the tenth edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) was dominated by allrounders and fast bowlers. Franchises had their agenda straight a player who can bowl four overs and hit a few mighty blows is worth the investment over players who are good enough in just one suit. England players enjoyed the best time with Ben Stokes taking the highest big for a foreign player in IPL history. Compatriots Tymal Mills, Chris Woakes, Eoin Morgan and Jason Roy also earned in crores. Among Indians a lot of focus was on uncapped-unknown properties and were awarded contract worth crores as well. From a total of 351 players available 66 were sold and the teams shell out 91.5 crores in all. Here are the most expensive buys of the season. 1. Ben Stokes – 14.5 Crores (Rising Pune Supergiants) England’s Ben Stokes. (Photo by OLI SCARFF/AFP/Getty Images) Right at the start of the auction, it was Ben Stokes who took the bounty on the day with a whopping 14.5 crores. With his auction price tag set at 2 crores, there was certainly bound to be a massive bidding battle for the Englishman who has been quite amazing in the international circuit in recent times. However, with a scrap prevailing between both the Pune Supergiants and the Mumbai Indians, it was clear that Stephen Fleming had indeed gotten his man. The 26-year old has been quite amazing in recent times with both bat and ball. Though the English team struggled Stokes had a great time in India and it was rightly rewarded at the auction. 2. Tymal Mills – 12 Crores (Royal Challengers Bangalore) England’s Tymal Mills. (Photo by IAN KINGTON/AFP/Getty Images) A surprise buy was Englishman Tymal Mills. The southpaw was perhaps one of those who made it into the grand scheme of things with his ability to bowl exceedingly quick. In addition to these speeds, Mills also boasted of some impeccable left-arm slower deliveries. His exploits in the series against India definitely multiplied his eventual signing amount. The Royal Challengers Bangalore, this time without their premier pacer Mitchell Starc went ahead and ensured that they had to break the bank to eventually sign their man after a bid war with other franchises. The southpaw will be a fantastic addition to the side led by Virat Kohli. 3. Kagiso Rabada – 5 Crores (Delhi Daredevils) South Africa’s Kagiso Rabada. (Photo by ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP/Getty Images) Kagiso Rabada has only begun his T20 career with 30 matches under his belt. But he is someone who has grown in stature in very little time. It took him not more than his debut to ensure everyone in the cricketing universe took notice. Rabada has pace, knows his lengths and can intimidate the best of batters. It took yet another scrap for the Daredevils to secure their man, especially with Mohammad Shami and Zaheer Khan being the only bowlers of some repute in the lineup. However, the Daredevils will now also maintain their youth of the squad with Rabada being only 21 years of age. 4. Trent Boult – 5 Crores (Kolkata Knight Riders) Trent Boult of New Zealand. (Photo by Anthony Au-Yeung/Getty Images) Trent Boult made his way into the T20 unit of the Kolkata Knight Riders. The 27-year-old is a genuine swing bowler who relies more on the lateral movement to edge past the batsmen and thus he was frozen out and liquidated by the Sunrisers Hyderabad in the previous edition. In absence of Andre Russell KKR were looking for a frontline pacer and who better than Boult. While the Sunrisers did indeed go ahead and bid for their former player, it was quite clear that Boult would not come for cheap, especially with the Kings XI Punjab and the Kolkata Knight Riders also looking for the same. KKR would be pleased to have signed him at 4 crores since Boult can also play a few shots with the bat and is an exceptional fielder. 5. Pat Cummins – 4.5 Crores (Delhi Daredevils) Pat Cummins. (Photo Source: BCCI) Pat Cummins, a white-ball specialist of sorts for the Australian cricket team is someone who bowls quite well at the death. However, the 24-year-old has been in and out of the Australian side with injuries. In spite of this, Cummins’ recent form for the national team and in the Big Bash has landed him a great deal in the IPL. Delhi were looking for a front-line pacer to partner with Rabada with an amazing mentor in Zaheer Khan already present in their ranks. Pat Cummins who is a genuine wicket-taker was a decent pick despite a whopping 4.5 crores cheque they will have to cut to him. 6. Chris Woakes – 4.2 Crores (Kolkata Knight Riders) Chris Woakes. (Photo Source: Twitter) Chris Woakes has been one of those fast-bowling all-rounders the world has sought after. This has also seen his stock rise given his impeccable fitness coupled with some amazing bowling performances in recent times. He bowled really well against the Indians in the recent tour picking 6 wickets in 3 ODIs. Given his batting prowess and the ability to smack the ball hard and far as a pinch hitter IPL franchises were quite eager to sing him after Ben Stokes the other English allrounder fetched the highest sum. He bagged a contract from KKR worth 4.2 crore. 7. Rashid Khan – 4 Crores (Sunrisers Hyderabad) Rashid Khan of Afghanistan. (Photo by Gareth Copley/Getty Images,) History was made when Afghanistan allrounder Mohammad Nabi was picked up by the Sunrisers Hyderabad. However, 18-year-old Rashid Khan was clearly the one who hit the jackpot as he came home with a massive contract worth 4 crores. Moreover, if there was any validation required for his talent, it was the manner in which the Mumbai Indians fought for him. At 17, Rashid made a name for himself when he went ahead and bowled impressively well against the West Indies. The leg-spinner has an impressive wrong’un and at most times is tough for the batsmen to get hold of. He was the leading wicket-taker for his team in the World T20 2016 as well as the recently played Desert T20 that Afghanistan won. Also read- 8 Interesting facts about Afghanistan leggie Rashid Khan 8. Nathan Coulter-Nile – 3.5 Crores (Kolkata Knight Riders) Australian cricketer Nathan Coulter-Nile. (Photo by JEWEL SAMAD/AFP/Getty Images) Nathan Coulter-Nile’s release from the Delhi Daredevils side ahead of the IPL 2017 Auction ensured that he was up for grabs. Coulter-Nile is someone with immense talent and can bowl at varying pace and is a decent batter lower down the order. He has been in notable form in domestic cricket of late. The allrounder was signed by the Knight Riders who were looking for a seam bowling allrounder to match up to what Andre Russell did for them. At 3.5 crores though he isn’t the best buy but given the requirements of the team they would be happy to have bagged the services of the Aussie. 9. Karn Sharma – 3.2 Crores (Mumbai Indians) (Photo Source: BCCI) Karn Sharma’s performance in the IPL has been quite ordinary in recent times. However, despite this, the 27-year-old was snapped up by the Mumbai Indians for a surprising price tag of 3.2 Crores. MI have an off-spinner in Harbhajan Singh already in their line-up and they needed a leggie to add variety to the spin department. Kran was a part of the Central Zone squad in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy where he picked 5 wickets in three matches. He has the knack of picking wickets though like a typical leg-spinner can be expensive at times but in T20 cricket, wickets is what matters. He was the most expensive picks among Indian players. 10. T Natarajan – 3 Crores (Kings XI Punjab) T. Natarajan. (Photo Source: Sportstarlive) In spite of coming into cricket a bit later than he would have liked, T Natrajan has wasted little time in ensuring that he is perhaps the goto the man as far as bowling for the Tamil Nadu Cricket team is concerned. He is termed India’s answer to Mustafizur Rahman. Natarajan has the ability to bowl cutters just like the Fizz from Bangladesh and he displayed that in the Tamil Nadu Premier League. He was expected to be a hot pick among the uncapped players and proved to be one as he took the best cheque worth 3 crore from the Kings XI Punjab. Also read- 9 Facts about T Natarajan: The new Indian pacer on the blocks

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IPL 2017 Auction: 10 most expensive picks

8. Nathan Coulter-Nile – 3.5 Crores (Kolkata Knight Riders)

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