Ben Stokes, Tymal Mills get over Rs 10 crore, no bidder for Ishant Sharma

MUMBAI: English all-rounder Ben Stokes and his teammate Tymal Mills were the top picks during the morning session of the 10th players’ auction of the Indian Premier League ( IPL).

While Stokes was snatched away by Rising Pune Supergiants (RPS) for a whopping Rs 14.50 crore (his base price was Rs 2 crore), Mills went to Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) for Rs 12 crore (base price Rs 50 lakh).

Among other top picks included New Zealand fast bowler Trent Boult, who went for Rs 5 crore to Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), South African fast bowler Kagiso Rabada, who was picked up by Delhi Daredevils for Rs 5 crore and along with Australian fast bowler Patrick Cummins, for Rs 4.5 crore.

The morning session of players’ auction started with a lukewarm mood and it was felt that the franchisee owners were being cautious on bidding. But the mood changed suddenly when auctioneer Richard Madley announced the name of Stokes. Even before Madley could say the base price, Mumbai Indians (MI) had their auction paddle up in the air. RCB also showed interest, but backed out once MI kept the paddle up. The bidding got aggressive with Delhi Daredevils entering with Rs 4.2 crore and locked horns with MI till the bid reached Rs 11 crore, when suddenly Sunrisers Hyderabad decided to step in.

Finally, RPS bought the all rounder, who earned his maiden IPL contract. Incidentally, Stokes will be available only for the first 14 matches of the season.

Before breaking up for lunch, Delhi Daredevils had picked up seven players, Kings Xi Punjab and Sunrisers Hyderabad bought five each, Gujarat Lions and Mumbai Indian bought four each, KKR and RCB picked up three players each, while RPS bought only two.

Auction will resume at 2 pm.