IPL Auction 2018: Top 5 Indian players retained by their respective teams

The most anticipated IPL auction ever, finally came to an end in Bengaluru on Sunday and, as expected, it turned out to be full of surprises as some marquee players were unsold while some players got unexpected bidding price.

Teams came up with clear strategies as to which player they wanted and were smart with their bidding. Top players were bought for a huge price, while some players were smartly retained by their respective teams.

Let us check out the top 5 Indian players who were retained using the Right To Match (RTM) card.

#5 Shikhar Dhawan (Rs 5.2 crore)

Shikhar Dhawan was the first player to feature in the IPL 2018 Auction. The base price for Dhawan was Rs 2 crore and was expected to start a bidding war among the teams.

And so it proved as Kings XI Punjab, Mumbai Indians and Rajasthan Royals fought it out for the Indian opener. The former won the bidding war, but then, Hyderabad was in no mood to leave him at this price.

SRH used their RTM card and happily retained Dhawan. As a result of this retention, the opening duo of Warner-Dhawan will remain intact for Hyderabad.

#4 Yuzvendra Chahal (Rs 6 crore)

Yuzvendra Chahal has been the strike bowler for Royal Challengers Banglore

Before the auction started, Royal Challengers Bangalore(RCB) had retained Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers, and Sarfraz Khan. It was expected that the franchise will use RTM on Indians players KL Rahul, Kedar Jadhav or Yuzvendra Chahal.

RCB were in a spot of bother as they had already lost Rahul and Kedar in the auction. Chahal was a hot favorite for every team as he has been one of the strike bowlers for India recently and has exceedingly done well in the limited-overs format.

After a rigorous bidding war, Chahal was sold to Delhi Daredevils at Rs 6 crore. But RCB used the RTM card to retain the leg-spinner and he will no doubt be Virat Kohli's go-to bowler in the 2018 IPL.

#3 Ajinkya Rahane (Rs 4 crore)

Rahane will be the vice-captain of Rajasthan Royals

Ajinkya Rahane was not retained by Rajasthan Royals(RR) before the auction. He was on the radar of many teams as he has proved to be handy batsmen at the top of the order in the IPL.

Rahane was sold to Kings XI Punjab after a bidding war with Mumbai Indians only to be retained by Rajasthan Royals for a sum of Rs 4 crore only.

In the end, it turned out to be a smart move by not retaining him initially, as it would have cost at least Rs 7-8 crore if they had retained him before the auction.

#2 Kuldeep Yadav (Rs 5.8 crore)

Kuldeep Yadav has performed consistently for the Indian team in the limited-overs format

Kolkata Knight Riders(KKR) had retained Sunil Narine and Andre Russel before the auction. Considering Kuldeep Yadav's form, it was expected that he might be retained but that was not to be.

The bidding war for the left-arm Chinaman bowler was in full swing and he was sold to RCB. KKR desperately needed an Indian player in their as their team had all foreign players until that time.

Kolkata had already lost Manish Pandey and it was expected that they won't let go of Kuldeep Yadav. He was rightly retained by the KKR for Rs 5.8 crore which has added more variety to the team's bowling line-up.

#1 Krunal Pandya (Rs 8.8 crore)

Krunal played a crucial role for Mumbai Indians last year, especially in the final

After acquiring Kieron Pollard, Mumbai Indians(MI) were left with only one RTM. They were rightly keeping it for Krunal Pandya but at one point it looked like they might go for Jos Butler.

Instead, they tried buying Buttler in the auction but in the end, it proved too costly. Once Krunal's name came into the auction there was an intense bidding war between RCB, Rajasthan, and Hyderabad.

Krunal was sold to RCB at Rs 8.8 crore. However, Mumbai had held an ace up their sleeve with the RTM and bought back Krunal into their team.

Retaining the Pandya brothers would have been something that Mumbai Indians wanted desperately considering how they can be match-winners on their day and it paved out perfectly for the defending champions.