Stokes, Starc attract heavy bids in opening round

It took little time for the IPL auction to go into overdrive as Ben Stokes, Mitchell Starc and R Ashwin fetched hefty prices.

Stokes went for Rs 12.5 Crore to Rajasthan Royals, beating off competition from Chennai Super Kings, Kings XI Punjab and Kolkata Knight Riders. Stokes joins Australian Steven Smith, who was retained before the auction, in the RR side.

"ECB has cleared him for auction, he is legally available. We are a start-up company, we are bidding from the scratch. We are looking to build a team all over again. An all-rounder is very important for us. We are investing heavily on him because of that. Since all the star players are auctioned upfront, it seems like we are spending a lot. But there is no change in strategy from our end," Royals' management said on their big buy.

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Australian pace spearhead Starc too attracted a bidding war with Kolkata Knight Riders and Kings XI Punjab going head to head. He eventually went to KKR for a whopping Rs 9.4 Crore.

Ashwin set the tone earlier, going to Kings XI Punjab for Rs 7.6 Crore. The Indian off-spinner was not retained by Chennai Super Kings ahead of the auction, and it was expected that he would fetch a heavy price. KXIP signalled their intentions from the start, with CSK also showing interest. KXIP eventually sealed the deal, beating off interest from CSK and Rajasthan Royals.

Complete list of players sold

Shikhar Dhawan, Kieron Pollard, Ajinkya Rahane and Faf du Plessis were meanwhile brought back by their respective teams using the RTM options.

Dhawan was initially bought by KXIP for Rs 5.2 Crore, but Sunrisers Hyderabad immediately used their RTM option to bring back the left-handed opener. Pollard was bought by Delhi Daredevils for 5.4 Crore, before Mumbai Indians used their RTM to buy back the West Indian. India's Test vice-captain Rahane was initially sold to KXIP for Rs 4 Crore, but his former side RR moved quickly to exercise their RTM option. Another player who went to his previous team was South African du Plessis, with CSK using the RTM to get him from KXIP for Rs 1.6 Crore.

Chris Gayle, Pollard's fellow West Indian, went unsold in the first round of auctions.