Indian Premier League Auction 2016: Pawan Negi Steals The Show, Shane Watson Gets Top Billing
Shane Watson's all-round abilities will come in handy, as Royal Challengers Bangalore snapped the Aussie for whopping Rs 9.5 crore at the Indian Premier League Acution.
Australia's Shane Watson became the costliest player of the 2016 Indian Premier League Auction, as he was snapped up by Royal Challengers Bangalore for a whopping Rs 9.5 crore (.39 million), after an intense bidding war. (IPL Auction 2016 Blog)
Watson, who played for now-banned Rajasthan Royals'>Rajasthan Royals in the previous editions, has shown good Twenty20 form off-late with a brilliant century against India in the third Twenty20 at Sydney. (IPL Auction 2016: Shane Watson, Yuvraj Singh Receive High Bids; Chris Morris, Mohit Sharma the Big Surprises)
RCB director Amrit Thomas revealed that the franchise were always keen on cash-in on Australian all-rounder.
"Shane Watson was we were looking for. He adds a lot of balance and he has been in good form. You can judge from his recent performance as well.We were really interested in Yuvraj. All the best to the team. Hopefully hell play for us sometime in the future," said Thomas. (Live IPL Auction 2016: List of Players Sold and Unsold)
Pawan Negi was perhaps the biggest surprise of the auction as he raked up as the highest earners amongst the Indians as Delhi Daredevils'>Delhi Daredevils bought him for whopping Rs 8.5 crore.
Negi's name was much deliberated upon in a closely fought bidding war between Delhi Daredevils and Pune Supergiants. Both the franchise had a go at each other in the chase of former Chennai Super Kings all-rounder, whose base price was Rs 30 lakh.ÂÂ
Before Negi, it was Yuvraj Singh who was India's highest earner as Sunrisers Hyderabad bought him for for Rs 7 crore (.03 million). Yuvraj played for Delhi Daredevils and was the costliest player at the previous auction.
Sunrisers Hyderabad also bought veteran pacer Ashish Nehra for Rs 5.50 crore (0,000) in a closely fought contest between Kings XI Punjab and Gujarat Lions.
Debutants Pune Supergiants managed to bag Kevin Pietersen for Rs 3.5 crore (5,000), along with Indian ace pacer Ishant Sharma Rs 3.8 crore (9,000).
Gujarat Lions got South African Dale Steyn and West Indian Dwayne Smith for Rs 2.3 crore (8,000) each.