Uncapped players, all-rounders rule IPL auction

Mumbai Indians bag Nathu Singh, son of a factory worker, for Rs 3.2 crore; Delhi Daredevils spent the most at Rs 31 crore

While all eyes were trained on the big guns like Yuvraj Singh and Kevin Pietersen, it was left arm spinner Pawan Negi, an uncapped player on the auction list, who attracted massive bidding. The ex-Chennai Super Kings player, who was available for Rs 30 lakh and has just been selected for the T20 World Cup team, went to the Delhi Daredevils for a staggering Rs 8.5 crore, making him the second most expensive player of the season. The top spot was taken by Australian Shane Watson, who was picked up by Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) for Rs 9.5 crore.

The other top picks for the season were Christopher Morris (Rs 7 crore) who went to the Delhi Daredevils, Yuvraj Singh (Rs 7 crore) for the Sunrisers Hyderabad and Mohit Sharma (Rs 6.5 crore) who was picked up by the Kings XI Punjab. Indian players populated the eight most expensive players' list taking up five spots. The teams spent a total of Rs 136 crore on the auctions, with the top eight accounting for Rs 53.3 crore, or 39 per cent, of the total player fees.

The Vivo Indian Premier League 2016 (IPL) player auction was unique on many counts. While the bidding for Negi did throw a big surprise the cricket fans' way, this year there were fewer takers for batsmen as compared to all-rounders, despite the IPL traditionally favouring batsmen. Among the eight top buys of the season, five are all-rounders and three are bowlers.

The Delhi Daredevils, which went into the auction with the deepest pockets (Rs 37.15 crore), came out as the biggest spenders as they splurged Rs 31 crore on player acquisition. Rising Pune Supergiants and Sunrisers Hyderabad were the next big spenders at Rs 21.8 crore and Rs 21.75 crore, respectively. The most conservative bidding was done by the Kolkata Knight Riders, which spent Rs 5.7 crore in the auction. Gujarat Lions, the new team this year along with Pune Supergiants, spent Rs 16.65 crore, despite having to build the team from scratch.

Uncapped players commanded a lot of attention from the teams. Apart from Negi, players like Ankit Singh Rajpoot (Rs 1.5 crore; base price Rs 10 lakh), M Ashwin, who was the eighth most expensive player, saw heated bid battle between Pune Supergiants and Royal Challengers Bangalore to be ultimately picked up by the former for Rs 4.5 crore (base price Rs 10 lakh). Similarly, Krunal Pandya (base price Rs 10 lakh), was sought by Mumbai Indians and Delhi Daredevils, and was finally picked up by the Mumbai team for Rs 2 crore. Other uncapped players who received handsome premiums over their base price include Karun Nair (sold for Rs 4 crore to Delhi Daredevils; base price Rs 10 lakh), Rishabh Pant (sold for Rs 1.9 crore to Delhi Daredevils; base price Rs 10 lakh) and Nathu Singh (sold to Mumbai Indians for Rs 3.2 crore; base price Rs 10 lakh).