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

Punjab had also initially won the bidding war for Dwayne Bravo who had a base price of Rs 2 crore. The Mohali based franchise initially seemed to have taken the West Indies all-rounder at Rs 6.4 crore, but Chennai exercised their RTM option and snapped up the player at the same price.

The talented Karun Nair started at a low base price of Rs 50 lakh but was sold to Punjab for Rs 5.6 crore after a heated contest.

Punjab then exercised their RTM option on Australia's David Miller after Mumbai had made a bid for Rs 3 crore.

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

Bangalore meanwhile, bought Kiwi veteran Brendon McCullum for Rs 3.6 crore. McCullum's compatriot Kane Williamson started at a base price of Rs 1.5 crore and was bought back by Hyderabad for Rs 3 crore after a short tussle with Bangalore.