Ben stokes IPL bidding war

PLAYER AUCTION England all-rounder picked up by Pune team for `14.5cr; Nabi, Rashid first Afghan players in the league

MUMBAI: The all-rounders and fast bowlers, especially left-arm pacers, were much in demand in the Indian Premier League auction on Monday as England’s Ben Stokes and Tymal Mills, and Afghanistan’s Rashid Khan hogged the headlines

Rising Pune Supergiants broke the bank to get Stokes at `14.5 crore, making him the most expensive overseas player ever bought at an IPL auction — Aussie Shane Watson went for `9.5 crore in 2016 — and Royal Challengers Bangalore got T20 specialist fast bowler Mills for `12 crore, 12 times his base price.

But the story of the day was Afghanistan’s 18-year-old legspinner, Rashid, going for `4 crore by Sunrisers Hyderabad.

Among the Indians, Railways leg-break bowler Karn Sharma was bagged by Mumbai Indians for `3.2 crore and Tamil Nadu left-arm pacer T Natarajan was picked for `3 crore by Kings XI Punjab. Known as a death-overs specialist with accurate yorkers, Natarajan came into focus in the inaugural Tamil Nadu Premier League and went on to shine in the Ranji Trophy.

It was a big pay day for Karnataka all-rounder K Gowtham, Rajasthan left-arm pacer Aniket Choudhary and all-rounder Pawan Negi as well.

Gowtham and Choudhary were picked for `2 crore by Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers Bangalore respectively, Pawan Negi was bought by RCB for `1 crore. Bought for a staggering `8.5 crore last time by Delhi Daredevils and then released, the price tag this time must have come as a big relief for Negi.

After going unsold in the first round, pacers Mohammad Siraj and Varun Aaron were bought for good prices when put up for bidding the second time. Siraj was picked by Sunrisers for `2.6 crore and Aaron by Kings XI for `2.8 crore. Among the foreigners to benefit in the second bidding, Australian pacer Nathan CoulterNile was purchased by Kolkata Knight Riders for `3.5 crore.

The more established names like Ishant Sharma, Irfan Pathan, Pragyan Ojha, Cheteshwar Pujara, Parvez Rasool and RP Singh went unsold. Ishant’s high base price of `2 crore seemed to have backfired. he England players were fresh in memory of Indian franchises and Stokes, Mills, Chris Woakes, Eoin Morgan, Chris Jordan and Jason Roy profited. IPL AUCTION

Stokes was outstanding throughout on the tour of India, across formats, which ended last month. The all-rounder went for only Rs1.5 crore less than the alltime highest bid of Rs.16 crore for Yuvraj Singh.

Stokes, however, will not be part of it in the crucial knockout stages as England players are likely to leave for national duty in the first week of May.

Pune coach Stephen Fleming defended their move to go all out for the all-rounder. “We now are in a situation to back youngsters and we have some big-time players. There is an element of risk when you spend big-time money, but we are ready to take that risk. We look strong on paper. It’s the top eight that you really have to respect. You have got three captains so you have leadership. We have bowlers, all-rounders in Mitch Marsh and Stokes,” said Fleming at the auction.

Delhi Daredevils made the early buys, getting two tearaway fast bowlers and two all-rounders. Their best pick was South Africa pace sensation Kagiso Rabada, for Rs.5 crore. While there was no doubt about Rabada going big, Delhi also paid a whopping 4.5 crore for Australian Pat Cummins. Cummins’ career has been hampered by injuries but he is capable of extreme pace when fit. He had showed how effective he can be when he had rattled India at the 2012 World T20 in Sri Lanka, bouncing them out at the R Pramadasa Stadium, claiming both Virat Kohli and MS Dhoni in a spell of 4-0-16-2.

All-rounder Mohammad Nabi became the first Afghanistan player to be picked in the auction. An off-spinner and middleorder batsman, Nabi has been the backbone of the Afghanistan team for five years. Sunrisers bought him, and also splurged Rs.4 crore for his younger team mate, Rashid Khan.