Recap: IPL 2018 Auction Day 1 Report

Bengaluru, Jan 27 - England all-rounder Ben Stokes and Indian youngsters Manish Pandey and Lokesh Rahul emerged as the most valuable players at the Indian Premier League (IPL) auction here on Saturday. Debut season winners Rajasthan Royals (RR) secured Stokes

KKR took Kuldeep Yadav for Rs 5.8 crore. They sat back as RCB won the bidding battle before deciding to implement the RTM option. 

Seasoned leg-spinner Karn Sharma went to CSK for Rs 5 crore. 

Young Indian fast bowler Kamlesh Nagarkoti, who has been one of the stars of the ongoing U-19 World Cup, will make his IPL debut for KKR after being sold for Rs 3.2 crore from a base price of Rs 20 lakh.

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. 

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.

Australian pacer Pat Cummins went to Mumbai for Rs 5.4 crore after starting from a base price of Rs 2 crore. Indian fast bowler Umesh Yadav was sold to RCB for Rs 4.2 crore.

Star South African pacer Kagiso Rabada was taken by Delhi via the RTM option. CSK had won the bidding tussle for the fast bowler at Rs 4.2 crore before the Daredevils whisked him away.

Delhi also bought Indian pacer Mohammed Shami for Rs 3 crore.

The Daredevils also bought veteran leg-spinner Amit Mishra for Rs 4 crore.

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.