IPL Auction 2022: Big payday for Ishan Kishan and Deepak Chahar

IPL franchises at an auction are about choices which can at times be shocking, tactics which can defy logic and heavy splurge which either pays or prove to be a dead investment. The 10 franchises spent Rs. 388.10 crore on 74 players on day 1 of the two-day IPL mega auction here on Saturday. The script of the top picks went mostly on expected lines with Shreyas Iyer and Ishan Kishan, the cynosure among Indian players, ensuring a bidding war. Kishan was Mumbai Indian's first buy of the day and also the franchise’s most expensive in the tournament history. Kishan went for a jaw-dropping Rs 15.25 crore, making him the second most expensive Indian player at an auction after Yuvraj Singh (16 crore).

The southpaw is also now the fourth most expensive player of the league. MI had to see off frenzied bidding from Punjab Kings, Sunrisers Hyderabad and Gujarat Titans to ensure the wicketkeeper-batsman returned to their fold. It was a known fact that Shreyas Iyer was hot commodity and that Royal Challengers Bangalore and Kolkata Knight Riders would loosen their purse strings for the Mumbaikar, especially with their need for a captain. But RCB had other strategies and dropped out of the race at the Rs. 4.20-crore mark leaving Lucknow Super Giants, Delhi Capitals, Gujarat and Kolkata Knight Riders to push up his price tag. Kolkata were hell-bent on getting Iyer, even if it meant he came at a price of Rs 12.25 crore.

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India pacer Avesh Khan was sold for Rs 10 crore to Lucknow Super Giants as he became the most expensive uncapped player in the history of the tournament in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) mega auction in Bengaluru on Saturday.

For the better part of the