Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) were one of the biggest spenders at the recently-concluded Indian Premier League (IPL) auction, which was held in Bengaluru. The Preity Zinta co-owned franchise bought some of the biggest overseas as well as local names after retaining Axar Patel for the upcoming 11th edition of the cash-rich league.
IPL Squads - CSK | RCB | SRH | KXIP | KKR | DD | MI
They made the biggest purchase of the auction (not necessarily in terms of monetary value) when they came up with a successful late bid for West Indies star Chris Gayle, who went unsold twice over the two-day process. KXIP were able to snap the T20 maverick up at his base price of just Rs 2 crore.
Also read: Full list of players sold at auction
On the other hand, they splashed out on local stars of the likes of KL Rahul (Rs 11 crore), R Ashwin (Rs 7.6 crore) and Karun Nair (Rs 5.6 crore). The Virender Sehwag-coached franchise also made some commendable overseas picks in Afghanistan mystery spinner Mujeeb Zadran (Rs 4 crore), Australia stars Aaron Finch (Rs 6.2 crore), Andrew Tye (Rs 7.2 crore) and Marcus Stoinis (Rs 6.2 crore).
World Cup-winning all-rounder Yuvraj Singh also returned to his home team as the KXIP bought him at his base price of Rs 2 crore. With lack of captaincy options, the Punjab-based franchise are likely to hand over the captaincy to the local hero, who will certainly be the crowd-favourite in Mohali.
Total squad members - 21; Batsmen - 7; Bowlers - 7; Wicketkeepers - 0; All-rounders - 6; Overseas players - 7
Players retained - 1; Players bought at auction - 20
Costliest player - Axar Patel (Rs 11 crore). Top buy at auction - KL Rahul - Rs 11 crore
Money spent - Rs 79.9 crore. Funds remaining - Rs 10 lakh
(Note: KXIP don't have a specialist wicketkeeper. However, Rahul is expected to do the job for the team.)
KXIP complete squad
- Axar Patel (all-rounder) Rs 12.5 crore [Retained]
- KL Rahul (Batsman) Rs 11 crore
- Ravichandran Ashwin (all-rounder) Rs 7.6 crore
- Andrew Tye (Bowler) Australia Rs 7.2 crore - Overseas
- Aaron Finch (Batsman) Australia Rs 6.2 crore - Overseas
- Marcus Stoinis (All-Rounder) Australia Rs 6.2 crore - Overseas
- Karun Nair (Batsman) Rs 5.6 crore
- Mujeeb Zadran (Bowler) Afghanistan Rs 4 crore - Overseas
- Ankit Singh Rajpoot (Bowler) Rs 3 crore
- David Miller (Batsman) South Africa Rs 3 crore - Overseas
- Mohit Sharma (Bowler) Rs 2.4 crore
- Barinder Singh Sran (Bowler) Rs 2.2 crore
- Yuvraj Singh (all-rounder) Rs 2 crore
- Christopher Gayle (Batsman) West Indies Rs 2 crore - Overseas
- Ben Dwarshuis (Bowler) Australia Rs 1.4 crore - Overseas
- Akshdeep Nath (all-rounder) Rs 1 crore
- Manoj Tiwary (Batsman) Rs 1 crore
- Mayank Agarwal (Batsman) Rs 1 crore
- Manzoor Dar (All-Rounder) Rs 2 crore
- Pardeep Sahu (Bowler) Rs 2 crore
- Mayank Dagar (All-Rounder) Rs 2 crore
#ICYMI, here are the players that will form the 2018 KXIP squad along with @akshar2026! Welcome to the team sheron! #LivePunjabiPlayPunjabi pic.twitter.com/ziID4E5vs2
— Kings XI Punjab (@lionsdenkxip) January 29, 2018
