IPL auction: Unadkat hits Rs 115-mn jackpot, Andrew Tye gets Rs 72 mn

Other stars of Day 2 of the auction included Afghanistan's Mujeeb Zadran and Sandeep Lamichhane, the first-ever Nepalese cricketer to play in the IPL

The IPL 2018 player auction threw up some surprises during the morning session of its second day. While Indian cricketer Jaydev Unadkat fetched Rs 115 million as the winning bid from Rajasthan Royals, Australian Andrew Tye was also sought after. 

Kolkata Knight Riders, Kings XI Punjab, and Chennai Super Kings, all placed bids to get the Australian bowler. However, in the end, the Preity Zinta-owned team walked away with the player for Rs 72 million.

Other stars of the first half on Sunday included Afghanistan's Mujeeb Zadran, who was sold to Kings XI Punjab for Rs 40 million, along with the first-ever Nepalese cricketer to play in the IPL, Sandeep Lamichhane, who was picked up at base price (Rs 2 million) by the Delhi Daredevils. 

Surprises in the unsold pool continued to crop up as players like Dale Steyn, Tymal Mills (the second costliest players last year at Rs 120 million), Pragyan Ojha, and Nathan Lyon found no bidders.

Going into the post-lunch session, all teams, save for KKR, KXIP, and RR, have met their minimum requirement of 18 players in a squad. CSK left with the heaviest purse at Rs 116 million while Sunrisers Hyderabad had the strictest budget at Rs 10.5 million. Among the players that could be re-called for the auction are bigwigs like James Faulkner, Eoin Morgan, Shaun Marsh, Joe Root, Partiv Patel, Hashim Amla, Travis Head, Corey Anderson, and Christopher Gayle. 

11:24 am: After a lull in the bidding as batsmen went unsold in the previous round, fast bowlers were in demand. With names like Trent Boult, Dale Steyn and Nathan Coultier-Nile in the running, it was a surprise bidding war that broke out for Jaydev Unadkat. 

The fast bowler was initially bid for by Chennai Super Kings and Kings XI Punjab. Starting with a base price of Rs 15 million, the two teams battled it out until KXIP placed a bid for Rs 110 million. CSK bowed out at this point and just when it seemed like KXIP had its player, Rajasthan Royals came in with a bid of Rs 115 million, which made KXIP concede the bid.

Of the ten fast bowlers up for grabs, all but Dale Steyn found bidders. In the earlier round, teams put their best bids forward for all-rounders. While players like Gurkeerat Singh, Pawan Negi, and Washington Sundar were in demand, players like Corey Anderson and Moises Henriquez found themselves in the unsold pool.  

10:26 am: After some heavy-duty bidding for uncapped spinners, the eight IPL franchises went on the back foot when it came to bidding for capped batsmen. Of the ten available for bidding, only three found takers, all from India.  

This meant players like Shaun Marsh, Lindl Simmons, Eoin Morgan, Alex Hales and Travis Head found no takers.

Saurabh Tiwary was picked up by Mumbai Indians for Rs 8 million after the team tussled with Kings XI Punjab for a short while. Mandeep Singh went to the Royal Challengers Bangalore for Rs 14 million. Delhi Daredevils and Kings XI Punjab were also bidders in this case but bowed out eventually.

Manoj Tiwary was picked up by Kings XI Punjab for Rs 10 million after a short back and forth bidding battle with Sunrisers Hyderabad.

10:05 am: Krishappa Gowtham was the first big buy of the second day of the IPL 2018 player auction at Rs 62 million. Gowtham, in particular, seemed to be very popular with the teams as four of them -- Royal Challengers Bangalore, Kolkata Knight Riders, Mumbai Indians, and Rajasthan Royals -- bid for him. The Royals finally snapped him up. 

The second day of the auction started out with some intense bidding by the Rajasthan Royals and Mumbai Indians for leg-spinner Rahul Chahar. He was eventually sold to Mumbai Indians after the Royals bowed out at Rs 19 million.

That seems to have set the tone for the morning session as teams went hammer and tongs after the players they wanted. Shahbaz Nadeem and Gowtham found themselves at the centre of a bidding war involving multiple teams. Nadeem went to the Rajasthan Royals for Rs 62 million. Of the 10 uncapped spinners to go under the hammer, six found themselves without any suitors. However, the ones who did see interest saw intense bidding.