South Africa's Morris bags a million; Yuvraj, Watson too

Australia allrounder Shane Watson became the IPL 2016 auction's first million-dollar man, going to Royal Challengers Bangalore for Rs 9.5 crore* after bidding for him began at Rs 2 crore. Yuvraj Singh was the second but the Rs 7 crore Sunrisers bid for him was far less than what he fetched at the last two auctions - Rs 16 crore last year. He looked like he might go unsold this time round after setting his base price at Rs 2 crore, but at the last moment he got a bid from Mumbai Indians, followed by Royal Challengers.

The day's third dollar millionaire was also the big surprise - South Africa'sChris Morris, whose value exploded to Rs 7 crore - 14 times that of his base price of Rs 50 lakh. Pune was involved in the opening rounds of bidding for him, before Mumbai Indians and Knight Riders went neck and neck. As bidding halted just one bid away from the million-dollar mark, Daredevils entered the fray, and no one challenged them.

There were a couple of early surprises among the unsold players too at the Bangalore auction: the in-form New Zealand and Australia batsmen Martin Guptill and Usman Khawaja.

Kevin Pietersen was the first player to be auctioned, bought by Rising Pune Supergiants for Rs 3.5 crore after a bidding war with the other new team in the tournament, Gujarat Lions. His base price was Rs 2 crore. The two teams also faced off for West Indies opener Dwayne Smith, who was eventually secured by Lions for Rs 2.3 crore after bidding began at Rs 50 lakh.

Ishant Sharma was the first Indian player to go under the hammer, and his bidding opened at Rs 2 crore from Kings XI Punjab, but Pune won out again, winning his services for Rs 3.8 crore. Ashish Nehra later sold to Sunrisers Hyderabad for Rs 5.5 crore.

Australia opener Aaron Finch went unsold in the first round of bidding. Dale Steyn was the last man to be auctioned in the first marquee round. Royal Challengers, Pune and Rajkot bid for him before Rajkot secured him for Rs 2.3 crore.

South Africa batsman Rilee Rossouw opened the second round - the batsmen's round - and went unsold. Two big Test names followed, Cheteshwar Pujara and Hashim Amla, and they went unsold too. A bit more surprisingly, there were not bids for Mahela Jayawardene or Michael Hussey either.

Kerala's Sanju Samson opened the round for wicketkeepers, and he looked like he might not get a bid but a late call from Delhi Daredevils - the franchise's first of the day - triggered a fight between them and Rajkot. Daredevils won, picking Samson up for Rs 4.2 crore - his base price was Rs 2 crore. Dinesh Karthik was picked up by Rajkot for Rs 2.3 crore.

The bidding for England wicketkeeper Jos Buttler was much-anticipated, and he went to Mumbai Indians for Rs 3.8 crore after setting his price at Rs 1.5 crore.

In the allrounders' round, Irfan Pathan was the first player to be bought, going at his base price of Rs 1 crore to Pune. West Indies' Darren Sammy went unsold soon after, but Australia's Mitchell Marsh picked up Rs 4.8 crore from Pune.

Mumbai seamer Dhawal Kulkarni opened the fast bowlers' round, and he was picked up by Rajkot at his base price of Rs 2 crore. Knight Riders were quiet active in the round, winning Australia's John Hastings for Rs 1.3 crore, before engaging in a tag-of-war with Rajkot for Praveen Kumar. Rajkot won this bid though, paying Rs 3.5 crore for him, seven times his base price of Rs 50 lakh.

Knight Riders, obviously keen to bolster their pace stocks, were at it again when Mohit Sharma came up for bidding, but Kings XI Punjab - who had as yet not secured a single player on the day - aggressively outbid them. Sunrisers tried a late swoop, but Kings XI would have none of it, picking him up for Rs 6.5 crore (base price 1.5 crore). He was the 45th player to be auctioned, and their first buy. Tim Southee went to Mumbai Indians for Rs 2.5 crore.

All eleven spinners lined up in the morning round of bidding went unsold, including India's Pragyan Ojha and Rahul Sharma, the in-form Australian Nathan Lyon, Sri Lankan mystery spinner Ajantha Mendis and West Indies' legspinner Samuel Badree. None of the Sri Lankan's who came up in the morning rounds were bought: Mendis, Jayawardene, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Thisara Perera and Sachchitra Senanayake. The only Bangladesh player who came up, wicketkeeper Mushfiqur Rahim, went unsold as well.

*INR 1 crore = INR 100 lakh = INR 10000000 = USD 148 thousand approx
INR 1 lakh = INR 100 thousand = INR 100000 = USD 1480 approx