| Photo Credit: Akhilesh Kumarmore-inEngland all-rounder Ben Stokes was the costliest buy after the first round of IPL players’ auction on Monday, going to Rising Pune Supergiants for a whopping ₹ 14.50 crore (USD 2.16 million) after an intense bidding war. Interestingly, Stokes’ limited-overs captain Eoin Morgan was taken at a base price of ₹ 2 crore (USD 298,000) by Kings XI Punjab. We have got all-round options and gives us more options down the order,” Pune Supergiants coach Stephen Fleming reasoned the big buy. But just when it looked that Stokes would go for around ₹ 12.5 crore, Pune entered the fray. One of the notable names that went unsold was former India all-rounder Irfan Pathan, whose base price was ₹ 50 lakh.

Source: The Hindu February 20, 2017 05:15 UTC