HOW THE TEAMS SHAPE UP AFTER MEGA-BUYS

Cricket's commercial behemoth, the IPL, raised the bar once again, generating eye-popping bids for the likes of Rishabh Pant and Shreyas Iyer besides providing the opportunity of a lifetime to first-timers including 13-year-old Vaibhav Suryavanshi.

DELHI CAPITALS

Delhi Capitals, who surprisingly let go of their marquee player Pant, bought 19 players in the auction after retaining four including Axar Patel, Jake Fraser McGurk, Kuldeep Yadav and Abhishek Porel. At Rs 14 crore, their most expensive buy was KL Rahul who will be expected to open the batting alongside Fraser McGurk.

There is no denying the class of Rahul but his strike rate has come under the scanner season after season.

MUMBAI INDIANS

Having spent a majority of their purse on five retained players including Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya and Tilak Varma, the five-time champions have their Indian core all figured out.

Considering Mumbai spent Rs 75 crore for their retentions, they were relatively quiet on day one of the auction before going for established fast bowlers on the concluding day.

LUCKNOW SUPER GIANTS

LSG purchased 19 players in the auction after retaining five including Nicholas Pooran, Ravi Bishnoi, Mayank Yadav, Mohsin Khan and Ayush Badoni. They were the ones who made a record bid of Rs 27 crore for Rishabh Pant who is set to captain the franchise.

Pant was by far their costliest buy with Avesh Khan (Rs 9.75 crore) and Akash Deep (Rs 8 crore) a distant second and third respectively.

KOLKATA KNIGHT RIDERS