IPL 2018 auction: 6 players who made the biggest jump from their base price

The 2018 IPL auction came to a conclusion yesterday and as many as 169 players were bought by the eight IPL franchises over the last two days. It was a good time to be a young Indian player, even better if you are an Indian spinner or a wicket-keeper as the players under these categories fetched a lot of money.

England all-rounder Ben Stokes, who was the most expensive player in the 2017 IPL auction, was the most expensive player in the 2018 auction as well as he was sold to Rajasthan Royals for 12.5 crores. Rajasthan also had the second-most expensive buy as they bought Indian pacer Jaydev Unadkat for 11.5 crores.

The likes of Joe Root, Lasith Malinga, Ishant Sharma, Irfan Pathan, Ish Sodhi were unsold, while the likes of Colin Munro, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Washington Sundar, Chris Gayle were sold for bargain prices, there are some players who managed to get sold for huge prices when compared to their base prices.

Let us take a look at the players with the biggest jumps from their base price.

Rahul Tripathi and Nitish Rana - 17 times (Base Price: 20 lakhs, sold for 3.4 crores)

Both Rahul Tripathi and Nitish Rana made a name for themselves in the 2017 IPL with their batting for Rising Pune Supergiant and Mumbai Indians respectively. That made them two of the names to watch out for in the uncapped batsmen category.

Registering themselves at a base price of 20 lakhs, both of them would have expected a team to buy them. But, quite a few teams were involved in a bidding war for both these players at the auction.

When Nitish Rana's name came up, Rajasthan Royals started the bidding for the left-hander before backing out at 75 lakhs. Mumbai Indians joined Kolkata Knight Riders in the bidding to get their former batsman. Both these teams kept bidding till Mumbai backed out at 3.4 cores and the auctioneer sold him to Kolkata.

In Tripathi's case, it was Rajasthan Royals who started the bidding and were in a tussle against Kings XI Punjab, Delhi Daredevils and Royal Challengers Bangalore before eventually buying the opener for 3.4 crores.

Jofra Archer - 18 times (Base price- 40 lakhs, sold for 7.2 crores)

Jofra Archer is one of the hot properties in T20 cricket at the moment

Yet another name who went for big bucks at the IPL auction is West Indian all-rounder Jofra Archer. The 22-year-old was expected to go all the way at the auction, thanks to his heroics in the Natwest T20 Blast for Sussex and for Hobart Hurricanes in the ongoing BBL.

When his name was up, Delhi Daredevils got the bidding underway and was joined by Chennai Super Kings. Both the franchises were involved in a vigorous bidding before Delhi backed out at 3.4 crores.

Kings XI Punjab joined the bidding against Chennai before the latter backed out at 4.8 crores. Sunrisers Hyderabad entered the fray and was joined by Rajasthan Royals soon after. When Rajasthan made a bid of 7.2 crores, Sunrisers opted out and the all-rounder was sold to the Royals.

D'Arcy Short - 20 times (Base price: 20 lakhs, sold for 4 crores)

Australian all-rounder D'Arcy Short peaked at the right time and is setting the Big Bash League on fire. It was certain that he will play for Delhi Daredevils as the coach of the Daredevils, Ricky Ponting, kept praising him on-air during the BBL and hinted that he will be a part of the IPL.

Chennai Super Kings started the bidding for the Aussie and was followed by Sunrisers Hyderabad and Delhi Daredevils. Rajasthan Royals joined the bidding at 1.2 crores and had an extended tussle with Delhi Daredevils.

Rajasthan Royals finally got their man when Delhi Daredevils backed out of the race when the bid was against them at 4 crores.

Krunal Pandya - 22 times (Base price: 40 lakhs, sold for 8.8 crores)

Mumbai Indians retained Krunal Pandya via RTM card

Right after Mumbai Indians retained Rohit Sharma, Hardik Pandya and Jasprit Bumrah ahead of the IPL auction, it was almost certain that they will use one of their two RTM cards for all-rounder Krunal Pandya.

They exactly did that at the IPL auction when they matched Royal Challengers Bangalore's bid for the all-rounder.

Chennai Super Kings started the bidding for the elder of the Pandya brothers and was soon joined by Bangalore and Rajasthan Royals, who were involved in some intense bidding before Rajasthan backed out.

Sunrisers Hyderabad joined the bidding against Bangalore and inflated it till 8.8 crores before they opted out. The player was sold to Bangalore and Mumbai was quick in using their RTM option.

K Gowtham - 31 times (Base price: 20 lakhs, sold for 6.2 crores)

The story of the 2018 IPL auction got to be Karnataka off-spinner Krishnappa Gowtham. He set his base price at 20 lakhs and would have expected the franchise to buy him. But, he surprised everyone when he went for a whopping 6.2 crores to Rajasthan Royals on day two of the auctions.

Royal Challengers Bangalore started the bidding for him and were joined by Kolkata Knight Riders. Royal Challengers pulled out immediately and Kolkata was joined by Mumbai Indians.

Kolkata backed out at 1.2 crores and Rajasthan Royals joined Mumbai before the latter opted out at 1.5 crores. Bangalore came into the scene once again and was fighting it out with the Royals.

RCB opted out at 6.2 crores and he was ultimately sold to RR.