Unlike auctions from the earlier seasons, the 2017 edition was pretty swift as teams had their strategies in place and went all out for who they wanted. And at the of the day, which saw intense bidding wars, a total of 66 players were sold with Rs 91.15 crores spent on them. While there were the expected the battles across tables, there were a few surprises as well, with the likes of Ishant Sharma and Irfan Pathan finding no bidders. Asghar Stanikzai and Imran Tahir joined the likes of Cheteshwar Pujara and Marlon Samuels, to remain unsold.

Yet, the story of the day was Ben Stokes going towards Rising Pune Supergiants for Rs 14.5 crore while uncapped players like T Natarajan, K Gowtham – the Karnataka all-rounder, were among those who raked in the big money. Other Indian youngsters who did well were Varun Aaron (2.8 cr), Mohammed Siraj (2.6 crore) Karn Sharma (3.2cr), Aniket Choudhry (2cr) and M Ashwin (1 cr).

Among the teams Gujarat Lions, Kings XI Punjab and Mumbai Indians have the largest squads featuring 27 players while the Kolkata Knight Riders have the smallest with 23.

KKR made some really smart buys and filled the slots they required with some quality death bowlers and some back-up at various departments. They knew what they wanted and they went all out for it. It was a good strategy that they employed. Meanwhile the Delhi Daredevils too went to fill up their squad with talented pacers which included Pat Cummins for Rs 4.5 crore and Kagiso Rabada for 5 crore.

The defending champions, Sunrisers Hyderabad, knew that their spin department was a bit under par and went all out for it.

While Kings XI Punjab went for the likes of Eoin Morgan for 2 crores and added the pace trio of T Natarajan for Rs 3 crores, Matt Henry for Rs 50 lakhs and Varun Aaron for Rs 2.80 crores. Martin Guptill was another valuable asset for Rs 50 lakhs for the team which lacked a bit of depth in the batting unit.

Among others the Gujarat Lions scouted local talent and filled up their domestic quota. One smart buy for them was that of Darren Sammy for a price of Rs 30 lakhs.

For Mumbai Indians it was Mitchell Johnson for 2 crores, K Gowtham for 2 crores, Karn Sharma for Rs 3.2 crores were the big buys.

But it was the debutant from last year, RPS, which made all the noise with the addition of Ben Stokes and further bolstered their squad with the likes of Dan Christian (Rs 1 Cr), Milind Tandon (Rs 10 Lakh), R Tripathi (Rs 10 Lakh), Manoj Tiwary (Rs 50 Lakh), Lockie Ferguson (Rs 50 Lakhs).

As far as the Royal Challengers Bangalore are concerned, after this years auction, they finally seem to have a well-balanced unit with the addition of Tymal Mills ,Aniket Choudhary,Pawan Negi, Praveen Dubey Billy Stanlake.

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