Livingstone hits a jackpot

Bengaluru: England batter Liam Livingstone fetched a staggering Rs 11.50 crore deal from Punjab Kings, who also roped in West Indies fast bowler Odean Smith for Rs 6 crore on the second day of the IPL mega auction here on Sunday.

For their left-arm variety, second-string India pacers like Khaleel Ahmed and Chetan Sakariya got handsome deals of Rs 5.25 crore and Rs 4.20 crore, respectively.

Among other Indians, all-rounder Shivam Dube fetched Rs 4 crore from Chennai Super Kings for his six-hitting abilities, while Gujarat Titans bagged another out-of-favour multi-skilled player in Vijay Shankar for Rs 1.4 crore.

CSK also picked up little-known Sri Lankan spinner Mahesh Theeksana (70 lakh), who had looked impressive against India when they toured the island nation in July last year. Cheteshwar Pujara predictably went unsold at the auction while Ajinkya Rahae got a base price of Rs 1 crore from Kolkata Knight Riders.

The first session's highlight was Livingstone, who hit the million dollar plus mark with five teams bidding for him at one point of time. However, it must be mentioned that Livingstone played for Rajasthan Royals in the previous season and didn't actually perform well on slow tracks, but the franchises, with slots available (minimum 18 per squad), looked desperate for him.

Marco Jansen, the South African pacer, who tormented India during the last Test series between the two sides, got Rs 4.2 crore from Sunrisers Hyderabad. The two teams that engaged in the bidding war were SRH and Punjab, with more than Rs 20 crore and Rs 28 crore in their kitty at the start of the day.

Odean Smith's price shot up as he recently impressed with his pace and control against India in the ODI series and also showed that he can hit the ball a long way. Smith has had the reputation of breaking Chris Gayle's bat during the Caribbean Premier League with his sheer pace and no wonder Punjab went the distance with their adequate resources.

Baffling strategy by Mumbai Indians: Mumbai Indians started the day with more than Rs 27 crore left in their purse but had to fill up at least 10 slots. However, they were strangely subdued during the first session before bidding conservatively for Navdeep Saini, but it was Rajasthan Royals who won the bid at Rs 2.40 crore.

The MI corner had something to smile about when they got Jaydev Unadkat for Rs 1.30 crore. They also bagged leg-spinner Mayank Markande for Rs 65 lakh, but the spark that is so typical of MI's style of bidding for match-winners, was missing and not too many such players are now left.

Lucknow Super Giants have some bargain buys: Lucknow Super Giants had the least purse (Rs 6.90 crore) at the start of the day but after having created a good first XI on the opening day, the Sanjiv Goenka-owned franchise couldn't bid aggressively on the second day and settled for bargain buys like Krishnappa Gowatham, who, from his Rs 9 crore-plus bid from CSK last season, ended with a Rs 90 lakh deal.

As a back-up pacer, Sri Lanka's Dushmantha Chameera was picked up by Lucknow.