CSK soar into the 30s, Yuvraj falls by 89%
Some key numbers - and trivia - from day one of the mega-auction in Bengaluru
Srinath Sripath and Bharath Seervi
27-Jan-2018
The first day of the IPL auction had 110 out of a total of 581 players go under the hammer, and 78 of them found a buyer. As always, the auction had some player-franchise reunions, aggressive bidding for rare skill-sets, and the odd bizarre strategy. Here's a look at five significant figures from a long day of bidding in Bengaluru.
33.5
The average age of Chennai Super Kings' squad, as things stand. They have an 11-member squad, comprising familiar old hands in MS Dhoni, Suresh Raina, Faf du Plessis and Dwayne Bravo. Only one of their players is aged below 30 (Ravindra Jadeja), and two of them (Harbhajan Singh and Imran Tahir) will be over 40 when this three-year cycle ends. They are also the only franchise to not have signed up even a single uncapped player so far.
40
Kings XI Punjab entered the bidding for 40% (21) of all capped players (53) in the auction today, eventually signing just five of them, apart from picking up two through the Right-to-Match option. While this is not an abnormal ratio, their keenness early on after having retained only Axar Patel was visible, as they bid for 12 out of the 16 marquee players, across various categories and skill-sets. Late in the day, they were desperate to acquire a capped legspinner, bidding for four of them and failing every time.
5
Players with over 100 IPL matches who were unsold on day one, including the tournament's highest wicket-taker, Lasith Malinga. Parthiv Patel (119 matches), Naman Ojha (112), Malinga (110), Chris Gayle (101) and M Vijay (100) all failed to land a single bid.
89%
Yuvraj Singh's percentage price drop from his peak IPL bid of $2.67 million, made by Delhi Daredevils. After a middling season in 2015, Sunrisers Hyderabad bought him for less than half that price ($1.04 million) in 2016, and decided not to retain him ahead of this year's auction. This time, he did not attract a single bid beyond his base price. After seven seasons, Yuvraj will turn out for his home franchise Kings XI Punjab, for whom he was the icon player before the inaugural season in 2008.
4.55 crore ($0.71 million)
The average sum spent on uncapped allrounders, which is more than bids received by the likes of Gautam Gambhir, Ajinkya Rahane, Imran Tahir, Jos Buttler and Colin Munro. Uncapped players were pushed up for bidding on day one earlier than usual, and franchises made the most of that.
Krunal Pandya, who was retained by Mumbai Indians for INR 8.8 crore (USD 1.375 million), became the costliest uncapped player ever, while success stories from other T20 leagues, including Jofra Archer and D'Arcy Short, were sold for high sums either side of USD1m. India's Under-19 fast-bowling allrounder Kamlesh Nagarkoti, currently playing in the U-19 World Cup, also attracted a bid of INR 3.2 crore (USD 500,000).
Srinath Sripath is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo; Bharath Seervi is a stats sub-editor