IPL 2017 Auction - Highlights

Whew! We are at the end of another frenetic Indian Premier League auction. 357 players went under the hammer, and only 66 of those found themselves a slot in an IPL team. Ben Stokes and Tymal Mills landed massive contracts, while the likes of Imran Tahir and Irfan Pathan among others found themselves out of favour. There were also jolts of surprises for the Afghanistan duo of Mohammad Nabi and Rashid Khan, who were picked up by Sunrisers Hyderabad, while unknown names such as T Natarajan and Aniket Choudhary also got their shot in the limelight.It was a lot of information and updates crammed into a short space of time. Here are the highlights from the auctions that happened in Bengaluru.

Ben Stokes sets the auction on fire. Almost as soon as his name is announced, multiple teams announce their interest. Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers Bangalore set the early pace before Delhi Daredevils and Sunrisers Hyderabad join the race. Eventually, it is Rising Pune Supergiants, who with a bid of 14.5 Crore INR, seal the deal for the England all-rounder.Other noteworthy picks from the allrounders' list are:Pawan Negi to RCB for 1 Crore, Angelo Mathews to Delhi Daredevils for 2 Crore and Corey Anderson moves to Delhi Daredevils for 1 Crore. More surprisingly, one time India all-round prospect Irfan Pathan remains unsold.

It looks like all the teams were saving up for their match-winning fast bowler and once they were available, the action in the room hits a frenzy. Tymal Mills is the biggest buy in the category by far, with as many as four teams interested in the England fast bowler. After an intense bidding war, he moves to Royal Challengers Bangalore for 12 Crore INR. Yep. 12 CRORE. Let that sink in for a moment.Trent Boult, Kagiso Rabada, Patrick Cummins, Mitchell Johnson also raked in the big bucks, but compared to what Mills got, it seems like peanuts.

Trent Boult (5 Crore) - KKR

Kagiso Rabada (5 Crore) - DD

Patrick Cummins (4.5 Crore) - DD

Mitchell Johnson (2 Crore) - MI

This is history in the making.Mohammad Nabi, the allrounder from Afghanistan, has been picked up by Sunrisers Hyderabad for his base price of 30 Lakh. Breaking boundaries moment this, and one to cherish for IPL, Nabi and Afghanistan. More of the same please?

Wowza! There is more of the same. Rashid Khan has caught everyone by surprise. He was one of the bowlers to watch out for, sure, but this intense battle for his services was perhaps not predicted.Mumbai Indians and Sunrisers are the main bidders and he finally goes to SRH for 4 Crore!

K Gowtham, the big-hitting off-spinning allrounder from Karnataka, has been snapped up by the Mumbai Indians for a whopping 2 Crore deal.Gowtham has done well in the Ranji Trophy this year and his ability to play multiple roles would have definitely made the IPL team owners sit up and take notice.

Aniket Choudhary impressed in the India A game against Bangladesh recently, with four wickets to his name. He also bowled to Kohli at the nets in Hyderabad. Surely, some inputs must have come from there. Gujarat Lions and RCB are involved in a battle and it is RCB who come out trumps with a 2 Crore bid.Another big purchase with T Natarajan, the pacer from Tamil Nadu, has been picked up by KXIP for 3 Crore. Natarajan has been likened to Mustafizur for his action.Mohammed Siraj has been rewarded for some fine domestic form as he has been sold to Hyderabad for a whopping 2.6 Crore. RCB was very keen on the player, too, but with a purse of just 2.4 Crore they were outbid by SRH

His high base price of 2 Crore doesn't deter the team owners with KKR and SRH bidding for the England international. Chris Woakes finally goes to KKR for 4.2 Crore. He must be their Andre Russell replacement.Jason Roy, too, joins a number of England players in the IPL, with Gujarat Lions picking up the opener for 1 Crore. Eoin Morgan moves to Kings XI Punjab for INR 2 Crore.

The IPL auction can be a tough time for any player who's involved, but it's probably harder for an established international when nobody wants to pick them. Irfan Pathan, Ishant Sharma, Cheteshwar Pujara and Imran Tahir all had to undergo the same as they ended up unsold in the IPL auction.

Karn Sharma, the leg spinner, has moved to the Mumbai Indians. There seemed to be a cat and mouse game between Mumbai Indians and Gujarat Lions, with each, seemingly, more interested in getting the other to bid more rather than try and get the player. Eventually, it is Mumbai Indians who get Karn Sharma and they shell out 3.2 Crore for the player.

For the longest time it looked like Varun Aaron would end up with Delhi Daredevils for a little over 30 Lakh, but Kings XI Punjab and Gujarat Lions finally joined in the race and took the bids upto 2.8 Crore, which was enough for Lions to seal the deal.

He wasn't favoured in the first round, but is seemingly hot property in the second. Nathan Coulter-Nile, the Australia all-rounder, rakes in the big bucks with a 3.5 Crore deal with Kolkata Knight Riders.

The Uttar Pradesh keeper moves to the defending champions and they will hope that the wicket-keeper batsman starts chipping in to add valuable balance to the side. He has been snapped up by defending champions Sunrisers Hyderabad for INR 75Lakh. With Naman Ojha not in the best of form, Dwivedi's inclusion will give the side a welcome back-up.

With so much strategy going into each auction and each buy, perhaps nothing would make a team owner, and even the auctioneer perhaps, as happy as a player who was picked up for his base price. The player, of course, would have hoped for a more involved bidding process, but like many stress, it's more about the experience than the pay cheque.A host of international stars was picked up by their respective franchisees for their base price.Martin Guptill (50L) - KXIPMatt Henry (50L) - KXIPDarren Sammy (30L) - KXIPRovman Powell (30L) - KKRAsela Gunaratne (30L) - MIBilly Stanlake (30L) - RCBBen Laughlin (30L) - SRHDarren Bravo (50L) - KKRLockie Ferguson (50L) - RPS