Kevin Pietersen was the first player to be auctioned at the 2016 IPL auction in Bangalore on Saturday, and he was bought by Rising Pune Supergiants for Rs 3.5* crore after a bidding war with the other new team in the tournament, Gujarat Lions. His base price was Rs 2 crore. The two teams also faced off for West Indies opener, Dwayne Smith, who was eventually secured by Lions for Rs 2.3 crore after bidding began at Rs 50 lakh.
Ishant Sharma was the first Indian player to go under the hammer, and his bidding opened at Rs 2 crore from Kings XI Punjab, but Pune won out again, winning his services for Rs 3.8 crore. New Zealand opener Martin Guptill went unsold in the first round of bidding.
*INR 1 crore = INR 100 lakh = INR 10000000 = USD 148 thousand approx
INR 1 lakh = INR 100 thousand = INR 100000 = USD 1480 approx
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Source: ESPN Crickinfo