IPL auction: Stokes goes to Royals for Rs 12.5 cr, Ashwin to Kings XI

England's Ben Stokes has once again made the headlines as he has been sold for a whopping Rs 12.5 crore to the Rajasthan Royals in the much-awaited Indian Premier League (IPL) player auction for the 11th edition of the tournament here on Saturday.

Stokes, who was on the marquee list, had a base price of Rs 2 crore.

He played the last season with the Rising Pune Supergiant and has been the top-priced overseas player in the competition's history.

Meanwhile, off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has been sold to Kings XI Punjab for Rs 7.6 crore, departing ways with the Chennai Super Kings (CSK).

West Indies' Chris Gayle, who played last season with Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), has remained unsold.

Australia's Mitchell Starc has been sold to Kolkata Knight Rider (KKR) for Rs 9.4 crore.

Rajasthan Royal's used the Right To Match (RTM) to retain India's Ajinkya Rahane for Rs 4 crore.

Meanhwile, Shikhar Dhawan with a base price of Rs 2 crore has been sold to Sunrisers Hyderabad for Rs 5.20 crore.

Sunrisers Hyderabad used the Right To Match (RTM) to retain Dhawan.

West Indies's Kieron Pollard with a base price of Rs 2 crore has been sold to Mumbai Indians for Rs 5.4 crore.

Up to 578 players, out of the 1,122 players, have been kept for the final two-day auction, which includes 244 capped players (62 from India), 332 uncapped players (34 from overseas), and two players from Associate countries.

The players have been divided into different sets and the auction will kick start with the 'marquee' list, where 16 players, in two batches of eight each will go for the bid.