Ben Stokes tops IPL auction but Joe Root and Chris Gayle unsold

Ben Stokes tops IPL auction but Joe Root and Chris Gayle unsold

  January 27, 2018    Unknown

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England Test captain Joe Root went unsold at the IPL Player Auction but Ben Stokes’ pending court case did little to affect his market value as the Rajasthan Royals forked out almost £1.4million (Dh7.2m) for the all-rounder.

Stokes last year made history as the most expensive overseas player in the competition’s history when he signed a £1.7million (Dh8.86m) deal with Rising Pune Supergiant before going on to claim the competition’s most valuable player award.

Again listed as one of the 16 marquee players this time around despite being due to appear at Bristol Magistrates’ Court on February 13 having been charged with affray, the IPL had guaranteed he can be replaced but only if he is ruled out for the whole tournament.

Rajasthan chief executive Ranjit Barthakur said on the Royals’ official Facebook page: “Ben Stokes is just our kind of guy.

“(He is) a fantastic performer, a cricketer of today and a cricketer of the future.”

Other unsold players were Australia’s James Faulkner, India’s Murali Vijay and perhaps most surprisingly New Zealand’s Martin Guptill who was in superb form in the recent five-match ODI series against Pakistan scoring 310 runs at an average of 77.50.

The top ten players from the auction featured just two England players (Stokes and Chris Woakes), four from India (KL Rahul, Manish Pandey, Kedar Jadhav and Ravi Ashwin), one from the West Indies (Dwayne Bravo) and three from Australia (Chris Lynn, Mitchell Starc and Glenn Maxwell).

Maxwell, who had the sixth highest bid of Rs 9 crore (Dh5.19m), has been on the outer recently with Australian selectors but clearly is still in demand in India,

There were 24 English players listed in the auction, and all-rounder Woakes who saw his value increase from last year’s competition as the Royal Challengers Bangalore forked out over £800,000 (Dh4.17m) for his services, no doubt helped by his timely 78 off 82 balls for England in the fourth ODI against Australia in Adelaide yesterday.

England opener Jason Roy joined the Delhi Daredevils for his £166,630 (Dh868,000) base price, while Moeen Ali will join Woakes in Bangalore after selling for almost £190,000 (Dh990,000).

Moeen, who struggled for form during England’s Ashes defeat, had said prior to the auction: “I’ve put my name in but at the moment I’m thinking I’m not going to get in.”

Top ten players in IPL Auction

1. Ben Stokes (ENG) – Sold to Rajasthan Royals at Rs 12.50 crore (Dh7.21m)

2. KL Rahul (IND) – Sold to Kings XI Punjab at Rs 11 crore (Dh6.35m)

3. Manish Pandey (IND) – Sold to Sunrisers Hyderabad at Rs 11 crore (Dh6.35m)

4. Chris Lynn (AUS) – Sold to Kolkata Knight Riders at Rs 9.6 crore (Dh5.54m)

5. Mitchell Starc (AUS) – Sold to Kolkata Knight Riders at Rs. 9.4 crore (Dh5.42m)

6. Glenn Maxwell (AUS)– Sold to Delhi Daredevils at Rs 9 crore (Dh5.19m)

7. Kedar Jadhav (IND) – Sold to Chennai Super Kings at Rs 7.8 crore (Dh4.5m)

8. Ravichandran Ashwin (IND) – Sold to Kings XI Punjab at Rs 7.6 crore (Dh4.39m)

9. Chris Woakes (ENG) – Sold to Royal Challengers Bangalore at Rs 7.4 crore (Dh4.2m)

10. Dwayne Bravo (WI) – Retained via RTM at Rs 6.4 crore (Dh3.69m)
 (Source : Sport360)