The much awaited IPL Auctions have been done and dusted with and as usual, there were plenty of surprises in store.
As expected, England all-rounder Ben Stokes became the most expensive overseas player ever bought at an IPL auction, going for INR 14.5 crore (USD 2.16 million approx.) to Rising Pune Supergiants.
After acquiring the services of Ben Stokes, Pune was quite measured in their approach and only towards the end of the day did they go for few more players.
“He is the form player, big all-rounder, we want to go out hard this year. With Ashwin at 8 we have a solid batting line-up and with Indian players, in the mix it does not look shabby at all. We have leadership, we have bowlers in Stokes and Mitch Marsh,” Stephen Fleming said after the auctions.
The combination of MS Dhoni, Mitchell Marsh, Ben Stokes and Dan Christian can be match-winners on any day and after their miserable run in the previous season, they would love to bounce back and make a big statement.
| Player | Type | Base Price | Eventual Tag |
| Ben Stokes | All-rounder | 2 Crore | 14.50 Crore |
| Dan Christian | All-rounder | 1 Crore | 1 Crore |
| Manoj Tiwary | Batsman | 50 Lakhs | 50 Lakhs |
| Lockie Ferguson | Bowler | 50 Lakhs | 50 Lakhs |
| Jaydev Unadkat | Bowler | 30 Lakhs | 30 Lakhs |
| Rahul Chahar | Bowler | 10 Lakhs | 10 Lakhs` |
| Milind Tandon | All-rounder | 10 Lakhs | 10 Lakhs |
| Rahul Tripathi | All-rounder | 10 Lakhs | 10 Lakhs |
| Saurabh Kumar | All-rounder | 10 Lakhs | 10 Lakhs |
With a new captain in charge of proceedings in Steve Smith, Pune would love to make a statement this season. Also, MS Dhoni would now play as a player who would not be burdened with captaincy and this could only bode well for the team.
"I have the highest regard for MS Dhoni as a leader and a person. Dhoni will continue to be an important part of our team," Sanjiv Goenka, owner of the Pune franchise, said in a statement. "He is supportive of the decision keeping the franchisee's best interests in mind."
The entire Pune squad:
MS Dhoni, Ajinkya Rahane, R Ashwin, Steven Smith, Faf du Plessis, Mitchell Marsh, Ashok Dinda, Ankush Bains, Rajat Bhatia, Ankit Sharma, Ishwar Pandey, Adam Zampa, Jaskaran Singh, Baba Aparajith, Deepak Chahar, Usman Khawaja, Mayank Agarwal, Ben Stokes, Jaydev Unadkat, Rahul Chahar, Saurabh Kumar, Dan Christian, Milind Tandon, R Tripathi, Manoj Tiwary, Lockie Ferguson
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