A total of 204 players were bought in the 2022 IPL auction, across the two days, with the 10 franchises spending over Rs 551 crore to acquire their services.
Ishan Kishan finished as the most expensive player of the auction, bought by Mumbai Indians for Rs 15.25 crore, which also made him the second-most expensive Indian player bought at an auction after Yuvraj Singh (Rs 16 crore) in 2015.
Liam Livingstone finished as the most expensive overseas buy after Punjab Kings bagged him for Rs 11.50 crore.
Meanwhile, three of the most expensive uncapped Indian players in the history of the IPL were bought in this year's auction. Fast bowler Avesh Khan, who is not far from making his India debut, was sold for a whopping Rs 10 crore to Lucknow Super Giants. He is the most expensive uncapped player in the history of the auction. Tamil Nadu big-hitter Shahrukh Khan was bought back by Punjab Kings for Rs 9 crore. Whereas, Gujarat Titans paid Rs 9 crore to secure the services of all-rounder Rahul Tewatia.
Here's a recap of the second day of the 2022 IPL auction.
Liam Livingstone Most Expensive On The Day
England's power-hitting all-rounder Liam Livingstone hit the jackpot on day two of the IPL Mega Auction on Sunday.
His base price was Rs 1 crore and the bidding started with Kolkata Knight Riders and Chennai Super Kings showing intense interest. Punjab Kings, Sunrisers Hyderabad and Gujarat Titans then jumped into the aggressive bidding war.
Eventually, Punjab bagged him for a massive Rs 11.50 crores.
Livingstone was with Rajasthan Royals in the previous season of IPL and has now become the highest-paid overseas player in the ongoing auctions.
He had a great 2021, where he was the 'Player of the Tournament' while playing for Birmingham Phoenix in the inaugural edition of The Hundred.
Under-19 World Cup Stars Find IPL Teams
In the third round of the auction on day two, India U-19 stars from the 2020 and 2022 World Cup batches got picked by various franchises.
Yash Dhull, India's recent 2022 U-19 World Cup-winning captain, was acquired by Delhi Capitals for Rs 50 lakh apart from making smart buybacks in all-rounders Lalit Yadav (Rs 65 lakh) and Ripal Patel (Rs 20 lakh).
Hyderabad and Punjab bid for all-rounder Raj Angad Bawa, who was 'Player of the Match' in the 2022 U-19 World Cup final against England. Mumbai too joined the bid but Punjab got him for Rs 2 crores.
Mumbai then secured the first bid for Rajvardhan Hangargekar, Bawa's team-mate. Lucknow joined the bid followed by Chennai. Eventually, Chennai got him for Rs 1.5 crores.
Hyderabad's N Tilak Verma, the top-order batter in India's U-19 squad from 2020 World Cup who had a very good Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, attracted bids from Delhi, Sunrisers Hyderabad, Rajasthan Royals, Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings. Eventually Mumbai got him for INR 1.7 crores.
Mumbai Make Surprising Purchase Of Jofra Archer
Five-time champions Mumbai Indians spent big money on buying Jofra Archer, despite ECB raising doubts on his ability to recover in time for the 2022 season. They also bought Singapore-born Australian big-hitting finisher Tim David in the accelerated round of Day two.
Despite the fact that Archer is unlikely to play in the upcoming IPL season due to his recovery from elbow injury, it didn't stop Mumbai and Rajasthan in trying to buy him with all guns blazing. Hyderabad even joined in the bid as well but Mumbai were persistent in getting Archer at any cost and got him for Rs 8 crore despite the pacer not playing any competitive cricket in the last ten months.
Team owner Akash Ambani revealed that the plan to acquire Archer was made on Saturday night, after day one of the mega auction was done. "With Jofra, we bid for all the fast bowlers before him. So, we were just priced out of all of them. The plan really firmed up last night saying 'Yes, we should go for him'. It's not that we were setting aside a budget; it's just the way auction dynamics was. We definitely did discuss his name in our pre-auction meetings. But the plan was really firmed up last night."
Mumbai were then engaged in a fervent bid for David, a globe-trotting T20 finisher, alongside Lucknow, Kolkata, Delhi and Punjab. Eventually, Mumbai got him on board for a whopping Rs 8.25 crore. Mumbai further picked Australia all-rounder Daniel Sams for Rs 2.6 crore followed by England's left-arm pacer Tymal Mills for Rs 1.5 crore.
Veterans Go Unsold in Accelerated Auction
The final two hours of the 2022 IPL Mega Auction saw many previously unsold players brought back into the fold and various franchises with renewed interest signing them up to fill their remaining slots.
While many got picked on second and third attempts, others like IPL stalwart Suresh Raina, India pacer Ishant Sharma, Bangladesh's Shakib Al Hasan, Australia ODI skipper Aaron Finch and England 50-over captain Eoin Morgan didn't have any takers for the 2022 season.
The second-last session began with South Africa left-handed batter David Miller going under the hammer, with Gujarat Titans and Rajasthan Royals jumping in. Eventually, Gujarat got him in for Rs 3 crore.
India wicketkeeper-batter Wriddhiman Saha saw interest from Gujarat as well as Chennai Super Kings but it was Gujarat who snapped him up for Rs 1.90 crore, and they followed it up by buying Australia keeper-batter Matthew Wade for Rs 2.40 crore.
Kolkata Knight Riders bagged England wicketkeeper-batter Sam Billings for a base price of Rs 2 crore followed by opener Alex Hales for Rs 1.50 lakh.
RR Scramble for Overseas Players in Final Round
The final round of the accelerated auction began with Afghanistan off-spin all-rounder Mohammad Nabi being picked by Kolkata for Rs 1 crore. It was followed by Kolkata having a reunion with India pacer Umesh Yadav for Rs 2 crore.
Rajasthan started the round with only four overseas players on their roster, including Jos Buttler, but they managed to pick up some steal deals in the final round. They started by buying New Zealand all-rounder James Neesham for Rs 1.5 crore and then got Australia pacer Nathan Coulter-Nile for Rs 2 crore, South Africa batter Rassie van der Dussen for Rs 2 crore and Neesham's country-mate Daryl Mitchell for Rs 75 lakh.
Vicky Ostwal, India's leading wicket-taker in the 2022 U19 World Cup-winning campaign, was taken by Delhi for Rs 20 lakh. Siddharth Kaul was snapped by Bangalore for Rs 75 lakh. B Sai Sudharsan was taken by Gujarat while keeper-batter Aryan Juyal was picked by Mumbai for Rs 20 lakh.
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