The price tags associated with English cricketers Ben Stokes and Tymal Mills might hog the headlines, but overall, the Indian Premier League (IPL) player auction on Monday was a rather conservative affair. This is not to say that the auction lacked the inconsistencies that we have come to associate with IPL auctions. Before the auction, this column had argued that barring a few, most Indian players had set their auction reserve prices really low in order to maximize their chances of getting a deal. We had also observed that foreign players who had played last year had set high reserve prices for themselves. As Figure 3 shows, they were indeed the most conservative spenders in the IPL auction, choosing to spend less than 80% of their total budget.

Source: Mint February 20, 2017 21:50 UTC