IPL Auction 2020: Top 10 costliest buys for this year's tournament

The IPL Auction 2020 saw some big-money purchases being made, with the Australian and uncapped Indians, in particular, being the biggest attractions of the day and inciting some brilliant bidding wars between the franchises.

Youngsters like Yashasvi Jaiswal (base price ₹20 lakh, sold for ₹2.40 crore to the Rajasthan Royals), Virat Singh and Priyam Garg (base prices for both players ₹20 lakh, both sold for ₹1.90 crores to the Sunrisers Hyderabad) went for exorbitant amounts, as the franchises fought tooth-and-nail to get their hands on some of the finest Indian starlets in the auction pool.

On the other hand, there were some players who got extremely lucky, as interest in them from multiple franchises ensured that they were sold for absurd amounts – the points in case being Piyush Chawla and Varun Chakravarthy’s sales to the Chennai Super Kings and Kolkata Knight Riders for ₹6.75 crores and ₹4 crores respectively.

There were some shockers in store as well, with New Zealand all-rounder Jimmy Neesham being snapped up by Kings XI Punjab for his base price of ₹50 lakh.

The first player to be sold was Chris Lynn, who was snapped up by the Mumbai Indians for his base price of ₹2 crores.

England’s ODI captain Eoin Morgan attracted a lot of interest too and was purchased by the Kolkata Knight Riders for ₹5.25 crore.

However, the first player to breach the ₹10 crore mark for this year’s auction was Australian all-rounder Glenn Maxwell, who was snapped up for ₹10.75 crores by Kings XI Punjab.

Pat Cummins was the next to come out of the hat and a three-way battle between the Royal Challengers Bangalore, Delhi and the Kolkata played out with the Knight Riders getting their man for a whopping ₹15.5 crore.

Chris Morris was the next player to go for ₹10 crore to the Royal Challengers Bangalore, and his price got slightly inflated due to Mumbai Indians’ extremely late push to acquire his services.

A three-way race broke out for West Indian pacer Sheldon Cottrell, with the Rajasthan Royals, Kings XI Punjab and the Delhi Capitals all embroiled in an intense bidding war for him. Cottrell was eventually snapped up by Punjab for a whopping price of ₹8.5 crores.

Mumbai Indians and the Chennai Super Kings went head-to-head for the signature of Australian all-rounder Nathan Coulter-Nile, and the 32-year-old was eventually snapped up by Mumbai for ₹8 crores.

Here’s a list of the top 10 costliest buys of the auction.

Pat Cummins: ₹15.5 crores (Kolkata Knight Riders)

Glenn Maxwell: ₹10.75 crores (Kings XI Punjab)

Chris Morris: ₹10 crores (Royal Challengers Bangalore)

Sheldon Cottrell: ₹8.5 crores (Kings XI Punjab)

Nathan Coulter-Nile: ₹8 crore (Mumbai Indians)

Shimron Hetmyer: ₹7.75 crore (Delhi Capitals)

Piyush Chawla: ₹6.75 crores (Chennai Super Kings)

Sam Curran: ₹5.5 crores (Chennai Super Kings)

Eoin Morgan: ₹5.25 crore (Kolkata Knight Riders)

Marcus Stoinis: ₹4.8 crore (Delhi Capitals)