IPL 2018 Auction: Stokes, Pandey, Rahul command highest prices

Bengaluru, Jan 27 (CRICKETNMORE) - England all-rounder Ben Stokes and Indian youngsters Manish Pandey and Lokesh Rahul emerged as the most valueable players at the Indian Premier League (IPL) auction here on Saturday. The Australian trio of Glenn Maxwell, Mitchell

Kedar Jadhav attracted the third highest price among the Indians after being sold to the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) for Rs 7.8 crore. He had started at a low base price, but his value quickly escalated as CSK, SRH and RR went for him.

Punjab were among the front runners at the auction, bagging several high profile players. 

They had earlier taken Ashwin for Rs 7.6 crore. The star off-spinner, who had started with a base price of Rs 2 crore, was not retained by Chennai Super Kings ahead of the auction. 

Punjab beat off bidding from Chennai and Rajasthan before sealing the deal.

They also took Australian opener Aaron Finch for Rs 6.2 crore after surviving strong challenges from Chennai, Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore and Kolkata.