IPL 2018 Auction: Five major talking points

When Richard Madley announces a player's name, expectations soar high. Fans anticipate a big sum, while the owners expect a good track record of those players. Even players hope that one of the eight franchises comes up with the opening bid for them.

Such is the euphoria during an IPL auction that it keeps the fans guessing until the bid for a player is finally won by a franchise. The two-day mega auction took place at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Bengaluru. A big pool of 580 players comprising top-quality stars and young emerging players, went under the hammer. 361 of those were Indians.

169 players were sold during the two-day event out of the 182 available slots. 56 of those were the overseas players. A total of Rs.4,31,70,00,000 was spent by the eight franchises. The magnitude of the auction was massive, considering the fact that the teams were allowed to retain a maximum of three former players.

The Chennai Super Kings, Delhi Daredevils, Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers Bangalore retained three players each, while the Kolkata Knight Riders and Sunrisers Hyderabad retained two players apiece.

The Rajasthan Royals and Kings XI Punjab retained only one player each. The maximum squad size allowed was 25 while the minimum was 18, out of which eight can be the overseas players.

As expected by many of the fans, Ben Stokes emerged as themMost expensive player in this year's auctions, a two in a row for the Englishman. He was bought by the Rajasthan Royals franchise for a whopping Rs.12.5 crores.

Jaydev Unadkat was the costliest Indian buy, also being bought for Rs.11.5 crores by the Jaipur-based franchise. Krunal Pandya was the most expensive uncapped player, as the Mumbai Indians bought him for Rs.8.8 crores.

Let us now look at what made the headlines during the two-day mega event.

The return of CSK and RR

CSK and RR will be making a comeback

This was one of the most expected aspects of the 2018 IPL auction. Two former champions returned to the IPL fraternity after each serving two-year suspensions. The franchises were desperate to restore their pride by starting off the season with a bang.

The Chennai Super Kings entered the auctions with a purse amount of Rs.47 crore, having retained MS Dhoni, Suresh Raina and Ravindra Jadeja. The 2008 Champion Rajasthan Royals, meanwhile, had Rs.67.5 crores left in their purse after retaining only Steven Smith.

They wasted no time during the auctions to form a strong squad. With much left in their purse, the Royals went on to bid for almost every player. They bought the English all-rounder Ben Stokes for Rs.12.5 crores, once again making him the costliest player in the auctions.

They also bought the Indian pacer Jaydev Unadkat for Rs.11.5 crores, making him the costliest Indian buy of this season.

The Chennai Super Kings played a waiting game for most parts of the auction. But they finished with a bang just like their skipper does very often, with some impressive signings that included Lungisani Ngidi, Mitchell Santner and Murali Vijay.

The auction strategies of KKR and CSK

Stephen Fleming

The Knight Riders entered the auctions having retained Sunil Narine and Andre Russell. Many expected that they would buy Gautam Gambhir back using their RTM card. But KKR management had other ideas.

They refused to retain their former skipper when given an opportunity, as they wanted to develop a new squad under a new captain. The side bought several prominent names like Chris Lynn, Mitchell Starc and Mitchell Johnson. It remains to be seen whether the new skipper can be an ideal replacement for Gambhir.

But it will be arduous to fill in the shoes of the most successful KKR player, under whom the side won two tiles. Coming to the strategy of the CSK, the majority of the players bought by them are well into their thirties.

Players like Shane Watson, Faf du Plessis, Dwayne Bravo and Imran Tahir have rich experience in the shortest format. If they are at their best on the given day, then age might just be a number for these players. It continues to be seen whether they can break the age-barrier and perform to their full potential.

Surprise sales and no-sales

Lasith Malinga found no buyers this season

As always, the auction offered quite a few surprises this year as well. Many prominent names of the shortest format went unsold. Players like Eoin Morgan, Ish Sodhi, Lendl Simmons, Lasith Malinga and Alex Hales did not find any buyers.

Even the mighty Chris Gayle remained unsold for a substantial part of the auctions, until he was bought by the Kings XI Punjab in the final stages. Age was a crucial factor for many of those went unsold.

Young Indian batsmen KL Rahul and Manish Pandey fetched a staggering Rs.11 crores each, which was quite unexpected. They were bought by the Kings XI Punjab and Sunrisers Hyderabad respectively. CSK’s bid for Kedhar Jadhav raised many eyebrows as he was bought for Rs.7.8 crores.

Another surprising fact is that, after playing 10 seasons for the Mumbai Indians Harbhajan Singh will head towards the south. The Jalandhar born spinner will dance to the tunes of ‘Lungi dance’ this season after being bought by the Super Kings for Rs.2 crores.

Meanwhile, Chennai boy Ravichandran Ashwin was bought by the Kings XI Punjab for Rs.7.6 crores. Coincidence?

A historic first

Teen sensation Sandeep Lamichhane

India’s neighbour, Nepal had a lone representative at the auctions-Sandeep Lamichhane. The leg spinner was the only Nepalese player to register for the auctions.

He was bought by the Delhi Daredevils for his base price of Rs.20 lakh. This 17-year-old rose to prominence during the 2016 Under-19 World Cup in Bangladesh where he claimed a hattrick against Ireland.

He guided Nepal to an eighth-place finish in that tournament. This is undeniably a historic and memorable occasion for both India and Nepal. Hopefully, this opens the door for many cricketers from Nepal.

Home sweet home

These three players will for sure cherish the saying "home is where the heart is": Gautam Gambhir, Yuvraj Singh and Murali Vijay. Gambhir, who donned the Delhi colours in the first three seasons, played for the KKR for seven seasons. He was not retained by the KKR management prior to the auction.

The Daredevils where desperate to get back their local hero, as they were looking for a captain candidate. Who else other than the two-time IPL winning skipper can fill that slot! He was bought by the DD for Rs.2.8 crores.

Later he was announced as the captain by their new coach, Ricky Ponting. Delhi fans would absolutely love to have him at the Kotla once again. Yuvraj Singh too returned to his former franchise, Kings XI Punjab. He played for Punjab in the first seasons before joining the now defunct Pune Warriors India in 2011.

He was bought by the Punjab franchise at his base price of Rs.2 crore.

Meanwhile, the Chennai Super Kings bought their 2010, 2011 title winning hero Murali Vijay once again to the Chepauk.

As they wanted to strengthen their opening slots further they went ahead with this bid and bought him at his base price of Rs.2 crore. Vijay will once again don the yellow jersey.