Kagiso Rabada was sold for US$750,000 (R9,83-million) to the Delhi Daredevils in the IPL auction on Monday, while No 1 ranked T20I bowler Imran Tahir remained unsold.
The 21-year-old will join Quinton de Kock, JP Duminy and Chris Morris at Delhi.
Besides the shock of Tahir remaining unsold, Kyle Abbott, Farhaan Behardien and David Wiese remained unsold.
England players were in high demand this year, with Ben Stokes headlining the day to become the most expensive overseas player ever bought at an IPL auction, going for 14.5 Indian crore (US$2.16-million, R28.3-million) to Rising Pune Supergiants, where he will join Faf du Plessis.
Fast bowler Tymal Mills became the second most expensive sale at the 10th player auction and was bought by Royal Challengers Bangalore for 12 crore (US$1.8-million). All-rounder Chris Woakes was bought by Kolkata Knight Riders for 4.2 crore (US$625,000, R8.19-million).
Three other England players were bought at base price. Batsman Eoin Morgan for 2 crore (US$300,000, R3,9-million) to Kings XI Punjab, batsman Jason Roy for 1 crore (US$150,000, R1.96-million) to Gujarat Lions, and all-rounder Chris Jordan for 50 lakhs (US$74,000, R970,000) to Sunrisers Hyderabad.
The Delhi Daredevils were the most active in the market, purchasing Sri Lanka captain Angelo Mathews for 2 crore (US$300,000, R3,9 million), New Zealand all-rounder Corey Anderson for 1 crore (US$150,000, R1.96-million), Rabada for 5 crore (US$750,000, R9,83-million) and Australia fast bowler Pat Cummins for 4.5 crore, (US$670 000, R8.78-million), maxing out the overseas player quota with nine international stars.
The Knight Riders, with only 13 players in their squad prior to the auction, did not bid for any of the first 22 players. They did, however, grab New Zealand fast bowler, Trent Boult for 5 crore (US$750,000, R9,83-million) in their first bid of the day.
There were 108 players up for auction with only 33 bought in the main draw. Only two Australians were sold, Mitchell Johnson to Mumbai Indians at his base price of 2 crore (US$300,000, R3,9-million), and Cummins to Delhi. Nathan Coulter-Nile, Billy Stanlake, Dan Christian and Ben Laughlin were bought in the second round of bidding after lunch. Coulter-Nile was bought by Kolkata Knight Riders for 3.5 crore (US$520,000, R6,81-million) while Stanlake, Christian and Laughlin went at base prices.
Experienced local players Ishant Sharma, Irfan Pathan, Pragyan Ojha, Cheteshwar Pujara, Parvez Rasool and RP Singh were unsold.
History was made when Afghanistan all-rounder Mohammad Nabi became the first Afghanistan player to be bought at the IPL, with Sunrisers Hyderabad picking him up for 30 lakh (US$44,000, R576,000)
See here for more IPL auctioned players.
Photo: Lee Warren/Gallo Images
