Karnataka offspinner K Gowtham set the pace on day two of the IPL auction, going for 31 times his base price to Rajasthan Royals for a shade below a million dollars. Royal Challengers Bangalore, Kolkata Knight Riders and Mumbai Indians were the other teams involved in the bidding, his price rocketing up from INR 20 lakh (USD 31,250 approx) to INR 6.2 crore (USD 968,000 approx).
The first sale of the day was another uncapped Indian spinner, legbreak bowler Rahul Chahar. He was picked up by Mumbai INR 1.9 crore (USD 296,000 approx); in all Mumbai won three off the first six buys of the day.
It was Royals who made the first bid though, on a day when in effect 471 new players were up for grabs, plus any of the unsold players from day one whom the franchises were interested in. On day one, 78 out of 110 players were bought, with heavyweights like Chris Gayle and Lasith Malinga finding no takers.
Like on day one, several higher-profile names did not get a bid early on, including Australia’s Shaun Marsh, England’s Eoin Morgan and West Indies’ Lendl Simmons. These players can be called back at the end of the day if any team asks for them to be called back into the bidding.
The first Right To Match (RTM) card of the day was used by RCB on left-arm spinning allrounder Pawan Negi – he was taken off Mumbai for INR 1 crore (USD 156,000 approx). Too more came in quick succession when the pace bowlers’ set began: Royals retained Dhawal Kulkarni (INR 75 lakh, USD 117,000 approx) and Kings XI held on to Mohit Sharma (INR 2.4 crore, USD 375,000 approx). Mohit was Chennai Super Kings’ first bid of the day, 32 players in, and they thought they had him till Kings XI played the RTM.
Source: ESPN Crickinfo