Day 2: Unadkat biggest buy; uncapped spinners turn heads

As many as 169 players were sold on the second day of the IPL auction as all eight teams built their entire squads - with only one of those teams (KKR) using up the entirety of their salary purse. The day, which was dominated by a competition for uncapped spinners, began with Mumbai Indians driving up the price of Rajasthan leggie Rahul Chahar upto nearly 10 times his base value, while RCB went a step ahead with Murugan Ashwin (base price - INR 20 Lakh, winning bid - INR 2.20 Crore). Delhi Daredevils went back and deep for Shahbaz Nadeem, while also adding a 'millenial' - the 2000-born left-arm spinner Abhishek Sharma. Such was their demand that Rajasthan Royals' central spinning option is Krishnappa Gowtham - who they got for a massive price of INR 6.20 Crore.

India pacer Jaydev Unadkat fetched a whopping INR 11.50 Crore, becoming the biggest Indian buy across the two days of the IPL Auction. Unadkat, who had been picked up by Rising Pune Supergiant ahead of 2017 auction for a base price of INR 30 Lakh, was their best bowler with 24 wickets, piquing interests amongst the owners this time around. CSK, KXIP and RR went head-to-head for his signature, with RR eventually making the winning bid. In an unprecedented moment in the auction, Nepal's leg-break bowler Sandeep Lamichhane earned a bid of INR 20 Lakh from Delhi Daredevils, becoming the first from his country to earn an IPL contract.

The demand for Afghanistan players in the IPL began last year and carried forward with Sunrisers Hyderabad buying back Mohammad Nabi for twice his base price at INR 1 Crore, while teenage sensation Mujeeb Zadran saw a bit of a scramble for him before KXIP shelled out INR 4 crore for the tweaker. Their fellow Asian nation - Sri Lanka - didn't find favour this time around. It took a second-time entry in the auction for spinner Akila Dananjaya to find a suitor. Mumbai Indians paid base price of INR 50 Lakh for him, while RR added fast bowler Dushmantha Chameera for the same amount towards the end of the day.

In the earlier sessions, Mi hit jackpot as they could secure Evin Lewis - one of the most devastating T20 openers going around currently - for just INR 3.8 crore. His fellow opener, and an IPL veteran, Chris Gayle took three appearances on the screen before Kings XI Punjab took him in for his base price of INR 2 Crore. The final buy of the auction - by KKR - was also a West Indian - the all-rounder Javon Searless, who also represents Trinbago Knight Riders, coached by Simon Katich. But the other CPL regulars like Kesrick Williams, Johnson Charles, Sheldon Cottrell, Andre Fletcher, Rovman Powell and Nicholas Pooran went unsold.

Aussies endured a mixed evening at the auctions. The likes of Travis Head, Moises Henriques, Nathan Lyon, Fawad Ahmed, Ashton Agar and Hilton Cartwright didn't have any takers, but there were still a few that got the batons rising. Delhi Daredevils invested INR 1.50 Crore on Daniel Christian, while MI scraped with Ben Cutting's former employers to scrape him for INR 2.20 crore and went for pacer Jason Behrendorff (INR 1.50 Crore) too. RCB snapped up Nathan Coulter-Nile (INR 2.20 Crore). On second attempt, Mitchell Johnson was picked up by KKR for INR 2.00 crore.

Among the South Africans, Morne Morkel and Dale Steyn couldn't get a single bid - the latter's injury and age perhaps playing in the minds of the franchise owners, while Lungisani Ngidi - the latest fast bowling star for the national side - will get to ply his trade for Chennai Super Kings, who bought him for his base price of INR 50.00 lakh. JP Duminy went to one of his former employers - Mumbai Indians - for INR 1 Crore.

While Ben Stokes's big-money move will occupy most of the back-pages in England on stories on IPL, Mark Wood (INR 1.5 Crore) and Sam Billings (INR 1 Crore) too had takers in CSK.

Of the eight sides, RCB (24), KKR (19), RR (23) and KXIP (21) didn't buy to full strength (25), while CSK were left with the maximum purse of INR 6.50 Crore.