Teams seemed to favour Indian batsmen in the third round of the IPL 2018 player auction as the likes of Karun Nair and KL Rahul attracted some serious bidding. Rahul saw four teams fight it out to get him on their side. Rajasthan Royals started the bidding and were immediately challenged by the Mumbai Indians. The two went back and forth for a while before the Mumbai Indians exited the bidding at Rs 60 million. Sunrisers Hyderabad entered the picture then and bid aggressively, forcing the Royals out of the race at Rs 62 million at which point Kings XI Punjab swooped in with a bid of Rs 64 million and stuck to their guns, finally acquiring the player for Rs 110 million. Royal Challengers Bengaluru refrained from using the right to match card to retain Rahul, allowing Punjab to keep the winning bid. Overseas players also found favour among the bidders as both David Miller and Aaron Finch saw bids fly back and forth. KXIP finally used their RTM card (after it was used against them on multiple occasions in the first two rounds) to retain David Miller for Rs 30 million which was the winning bid placed by the Mumbai Indians. Manish Pandey also seemed popular with the franchises Chennai Super Kings, Mumbai Indians, Kings XI Punjab, Royal Challengers Bengaluru, and Sunrisers Hyderabad all tried to bid successfully. Hyderabad persisted in the end, with the winning bid of Rs 110 million. Kolkata Knight Riders did not exercise the right to match in this case, allowing Hyderabad’s bid to sustain. ALSO READ: IPL Auction 2018: Stokes, Starc attract huge bids while Gayle goes unsold Aaron Finch caused much excitement as Punjab, Rajasthan, Delhi all tried to have him on their team. Rajasthan initially battled Kings XI Punjab before bowing out at Rs 26 million but re-entered the bidding at Rs 48 million.
In the end, however, they conceded which allowed KXIP to snap up the player at Rs 62 million.
Chris Lynn got the five teams bidding for him including Mumbai Indians, Rajasthan Royals, Kolkata Knight Riders, Delhi Daredevils and Royal Challengers Bengaluru. The Knight Riders who entered the bidding at Rs 52 million after Mumbai bowed out against Rajasthan Royals, bid aggressively till the end, picking up the Australian for a winning bid of Rs 96 million. Three players – Indian Murali Vijay, New Zealander Martin Guptill, and South African Hashim Amla went sold for the time being. After the teams put their best foot forward to get the best batsmen on their side, it was time for them to focus on the all-rounders. Chris Woakes, Kedar Jadhav and Marcus Stoinis were the picks of the players, even as James Faulkner went unsold. Jadhav was bid for by Rajasthan Royals, Chennai Super Kings and Sunrisers Hyderabad, but finally went to Chennai for Rs 78 million. Royal Challengers Bangalore did not use their right to match to retain him. The Bangalore team however successfully bid for Chris Woakes against Chennai, picking him up for Rs 74 million. Marcus Stoinis saw Rajasthan Royals and RCB make a go for it but was eventually retained by Kings XI Punjab after RCB placed the winning bid of Rs 62 million. Other players in the round included Yusuf Pathan (Rs 19 million to Sunrisers Hyderabad), Moeen Ali (Rs 17 million to RCB) and Colin Munro (Rs 19 million to Delhi Daredevils). Some surprises were sprung in the form of Indian players continuing to attract lower than expected attention from bidders. Southpaw Yuvraj Singh, who has attracted bids up to Rs 160 million in previous auctions, went at the base price of Rs 20 million to the Kings XI Punjab. Similarly, Harbhajain Singh was picked up by Chennai Super Kings for Rs 20 million. Australian Glenn Maxwell saw quite a few teams try to grab him up, but in the end, it was Delhi Daredevils who managed to do so for Rs 90 million. Four teams, starting with Sunrisers Hyderabad and Rajasthan Royals entered the bid. These two were joined by Delhi Daredevils and Royal Challengers Bangalore, with the former finally placing the winning bid. Other players up for grabs in this round included Gautam Gambhir, Shakib Ul Hassan and Joe Root.| Cricketers | Base price | Auction price | ||
| KL Rahul | Batsman | Rs 20 mn | Rs 110 mn | KXIP |
| Murali Vijay | Batsman | Rs 20 mn | Unsold for now | |
| Brendon McCullum | Batsman | Rs 20 mn | Rs 36 mn | RCB |
| Chris Lynn | Batsman | Rs 20 mn | Rs 96 mn | KKR |
| Aaron Finch | Batsman | Rs 15 mn | Rs 62 mn | KXIP |
| Jason Roy | Batsman | Rs 15 mn | Rs 15 mn | DD |
| Hashim Amla | Batsman | Rs 15 mn | Unsold for now | |
| David Miller | Batsman | Rs 15 mn | Rs 30 mn | KXIP retain using RTM against MI |
| Manish Pandey | Batsman | Rs 10 mn | Rs 110 mn | SRH |
| Martin Guptill | Batsman | Rs 7.5 mn | Unsold for now | |
| Karun Nair | Batsman | Rs 5 mn | Rs 56 mn | KXIP |
| Glenn Maxwell | All-Rounder | Rs 20 mn | Rs 90 mn | DD |
| Benjamin Stokes | All-Rounder | Rs 20 mn | Rs 125 mn | RR |
| Yuvraj Singh | All-Rounder | Rs 20 mn | Rs 20 mn | KXIP |
| Mitchell Starc | Bowler | Rs 20 mn | Rs 94 mn | KKR |
| Ravichandran Ashwin | All-Rounder | Rs 20 mn | Rs 76 mn | KXIP |
| Shikhar Dhawan | Batsman | Rs 20 mn | Rs 52 mn | SRH, using RTM against KXIP. |
| Christopher Gayle | Batsman | Rs 20 mn | Unsold for now | |
| Kieron Pollard | All-Rounder | Rs 20 mn | Rs 54 mn | MI retains using RTM against DD |
| Ajinkya Rahane | Batsman | Rs 20 mn | Rs 40 mn | RR retain through RTM against KXIP |
| Dwayne Bravo | All-Rounder | Rs 20 mn | Rs 64 mn | CSK use RTM against KXIP |
| Gautam Gambhir | Batsman | Rs 20 mn | Rs 28 mn | DD |
| Harbhajan Singh | Bowler | Rs 20 mn | Rs 20 mn | CSK |
| Kane Williamson | Batsman | Rs 15 mn | Rs 30 mn | SRH |
| Faf Du Plessis | Batsman | Rs 15 mn | Rs 16 mn | CSK retain using RTM against KXIP |
| Joe Root | Batsman | Rs 15 mn | Unsold for now | |
| Shakib Al Hasan | All-Rounder | Rs 10 mn | Rs 20 mn | SRH |