IPL Player Auction 2021 HIGHLIGHTS: Another Tendulkar in IPL, record-breaking Chris Morris and an SRK snapped up by Preity Zinta

Glenn Maxwell sold for Rs 14.25 crore and South African all-rounder Chris Morris sold to Rajasthan Royals for a record-breaking Rs 16.25 crore have already made it a splashy evening.

An Indian Premier League (IPL) player auction is known for two things -- money and talent. The first IPL auction after the Covid lockdown has had plenty of both.

Glenn Maxwell's price again raised eye brows, Chris Morris forced franchises to break the bank and Indian fans will be vociferously googling Riley Meredith's credentials while trying to figure out how Jhye Richardson swooped a nearly 2 million dollar deal.

This 2021 auction was about multi-skilled players, who can fit in anywhere.

Here are the updates that you don't want to miss:

Sam Billings reacts on Twitter

Back to where my @IPL journey began! Can’t wait to join up with the @DelhiCapitals #YehHaiNayiDilli https://t.co/nQFdsUDqyU

— Sam Billings (@sambillings) February 18, 2021

My girlfriend Sarah just turns to me and goes... ‘why aren’t you a bowler?’

— Sam Billings (@sambillings) February 18, 2021

All players bought: Mumbai Indians

Nathan Coulter Nile (5 crore), Adam Milne (3.2 crore), Piyush Chawla (2.4 crore), James Neesham (50 lakh), Yudhvir Charak (20 lakh), Marco Jansen (20 lakh), Arjun Tendulkar (20 lakh)

All players bought: CSK

K Gowtham (9.25 crore), Moeen Ali (7 crore), Cheteshwar Pujara (50 lakh), K Bhagath Varma (20 lakh), C Hari Nishaanth (20 lakh), M Harisankar Reddy (20 lakh)

All players bought: RCB

Kyle Jamieson (15 crore), Glenn Maxwell (14.25 crore), Dan Christian (4.8 crore), Sachin Baby (20 lakh), Rajat Patidar (20 lakh), Mohammed Azharuddeen (20 lakh), Suyash Prabhudesai (20 lakh), KS Bharat (20 lakh)

Pujara tweets!

Thank you for showing the faith
Look forward! https://t.co/t7QlT6SGW1

— cheteshwar pujara (@cheteshwar1) February 18, 2021

Time is up!

IPL player auctions 2021 is now officially over.

Hanuma Vihari goes unsold

Mumbai Indians pick Arjun Tendulkar for base price

Top-five so far

How's that for numbers

Here are the buys in the @Vivo_India #IPLAuction pic.twitter.com/SPagm8laZo

— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) February 18, 2021

Remaining budget

KKR: 3.9 crore

MI: 3.85 crore

RR: 13.85 crore

RCB: 35 lakh

End of the road for these teams

CSK, DC, PK and SRH hit the 25-player limit maximum.

Vaibhav Arora is a Knight!

The man who castled Pujara on his First-class debut makes his way from the hills of Himachal Pradesh to the City of Joy!

Welcome, Vaibhav Arora #KKR #HaiTaiyaar #IPL2021 #IPLAuction

— KolkataKnightRiders (@KKRiders) February 18, 2021

Mujeeb Ur Rahman sold to SRH for Rs 1.50 Cr

Kedar Jadhav joins SRH

.@JadhavKedar joins @SunRisers for INR 2 Cr. @Vivo_India #IPLAuction

— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) February 18, 2021

Harbhajan Singh sold to KKR

.@harbhajan_singh moves to @KKRiders for #INR 2 Cr. @Vivo_India #IPLAuction

— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) February 18, 2021

Auction highlights!

South African Chris Morris led the pack with a record Rs 16.25 crore bid from Rajasthan Royals as all-rounders and foreign fast bowlers walked away with bank-breaking deals in the 2021 IPL auction. Check out the cricketers and the clubs they were bagged by this year.

Jimmy Neesham goes for Rs 50 Lakh to Mumbai Indians

Fabian Allen gets the opening bid from @PunjabKingsIPL and is SOLD for 75L INR @Vivo_India #IPLAuction

— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) February 18, 2021

That moment when you realise you will have to bowl again to @cheteshwar1 in the nets @ChennaiIPL #IPLAuction #IPL2021 pic.twitter.com/hT2zzqn3Jq

— Wasim Jaffer (@WasimJaffer14) February 18, 2021

Moises Henriques is going to @PunjabKingsIPL for $743,000 AUD! #IPLAuction pic.twitter.com/ukY30xibB1

— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) February 18, 2021

Break before accelerated auction!

A 45 break is taken and when the auction resumes teams will submit a list of players of their interest and they will be auctioned.

Kyle Jamieson breaks record, sold for Rs 15 crore!

Royal Challenger Bangalore means business here, splurge Rs 15 crore for the New Zealander. Jamieson becomes the fourth most expensive player in the tournament history.

Its a day of surprises for CSK fans!

Pujara sold to CSK for Rs 50 lakh.

Australian pacer Riley Meredith sold Punjab Kings for Rs 8 crore!

All-rounder Krishnappa Gowtham sold for Rs 9.25 crore

All-rounder Krishnappa Gowtham sold to Chennai Super Kings for Rs 9.25 crore.

Shah Rukh Khan goes to Punjab Kings!

Uncapped Shah Rukh Khan goes to Punjab Kings for Rs 5.25 crore!

When you get a certain "Shahrukh Khan" in your side @PunjabKingsIPL @Vivo_India #IPLAuction pic.twitter.com/z4te9w2EIZ

— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) February 18, 2021

Uncapped young boys enter the bidding fray!

Sachin Baby, Himmat Singh, Rajat Patidar sold to RCB for Rs 20 lakh.

Ripal Patel sold to DC for Rs 20 Lakh.

Piyush Chawla sold to Mumbai Indians for Rs 2.4 crore

Harbhajan Singh goes unsold!

Indian pacer Umesh Yadav bought by Delhi Capitals for Rs 1 crore.

Mumbai Indians take back pacer Nathan Coulter-Nile for Rs 5 crore!

Joy for Jhye!

Australian pacer Jhye Richardson sold to Punjab Kings for Rs 14 crore!

As bowlers enter the fray, Jhye Richardson pushed the bar!

Everyone tried their hand for the young pacer as bids Rs 8 crore!

Bangladesh pacer Mustafizur Rahman sold to Rajasthan Royals for Ra 1 crore!

Pacer Adam Milne sold to Mumbai Indians!

Pacer Adam Milne sold to Mumbai Indians!

List of unsold players so far...

Jason Roy

Karun Nair

Evin Lewis

Alex Hales

Kedar Jadhav

Aaron Finch

Hanuma Vihari

Sam billings

Alex Carey

Glenn Phillips

Kusal Perera

RR welcome Chris!

???????????????????? ???????? ????????????????????????????????????????’???? ????????????????????:

“I’m back”. #HallaBol | #RoyalsFamily | #IPLAuction | #IPL2021 | @Tipo_Morris pic.twitter.com/xLQYKoLzaw

— Rajasthan Royals (@rajasthanroyals) February 18, 2021

Dawid Malan sold for Rs 1.5 crore!

England batsman Dawid Malan sold for Rs 1.5 crore to Punjab Kings.

Chris Morris, Glenn Maxwell enter the IPL history books

The top six expensive signings of IPL:

Chris Morris Rs 16.25 crore (Rajasthan Royals)

Yuvraj Singh Rs 16 crore (SunRisers Hyderabad)

Pat Cummins Rs 15.5 crore (Kolkata Knight Riders)

Gautam Gambhir Rs 14.9 crore (Kolkata Knight Riders)

Ben Stokes Rs 14.5 crore (Rising Pune Supergiant).

Glenn Maxwell Rs 14.25 crore (Royal Challengers Bangalore)

Mad bidding for Morris!

The bidding war for Chris Morris topped the trade record of SunRisers Hyderabad which bought Yuvraj Singh for Rs 16 crores.

Chris Morris becomes most expensive player of all time

The 33-year-old South African all-rounder Chris Morris has become the most expensive player ever bought at an IPL auction. In a truly 'Royals' bid, Rajasthan snapped him up for Rs 16.25 crore.

Chris Morris raising the heat!

Chris Morris raising the heat as bids cross Rs 10 crore mark!

All-rounder Shivam Dube sold to Rajasthan Royals for Rs 4.4 crore.

Kedar Jadhav goes unsold!

Chennai Super Kings make their first buy with Moeen Ali!

Moeen Ali is raising the heat now. CSK, PBKs go against each other but Chennai manages to get the England all-rounder for Rs 7 crore.

KKR welcome back the Bangladeshi all-rounder!

KKR welcome back the Bangladeshi all-rounder by spending Rs 3.2 crore.

????? ????? ??????! #IPLAuction #IPL2021

— KolkataKnightRiders (@KKRiders) February 18, 2021

And now Shakib Al Hasan goes under the hammer!

RCB make record signing with Glenn Maxwell for Rs 14.25 crore

Glenn Maxwell might just be the most expensive player of this auction as he ties up with fifth expensive signing of all time till now - after Yuvraj Singh Rs 16 crore (SunRisers Hyderabad), Pat Cummins Rs 15.5 crore (Kolkata Knight Riders), Gautam Gambhir Rs 14.9 crore (Kolkata Knight Riders) and Ben Stokes Rs 14.5 crore (Rising Pune Supergiant).

The bidding has crossed the Rs 10-crore mark!

And the bidding war begins for Maxwell!

Vihari, Roy, Hales unsold

Jason Roy

Karun Nair

Evin Lewis

Alex Hales

Aaron Finch

Hanuma Vihari

The Capitals have their way with Smith!

Australia's Steve Smith bought by Ricky Ponting coached Delhi Capitals for Rs 2.20 crore.

Auctioneer for the day is Hugh Edmeades!

He is a British international fine art, classic car and charity auctioneer. Conducted the auction of 88 guitars belonging to Eric Clapton raising a total of $7,438,624. Has also auctioneered Daniel Craig's Aston Martin DB10 from James Bond's Spectre, which sold for £2,434,500 in 2016.

Here's the team status of all 8 franchises

Chennai Super Kings: Available purse: Rs 19.90 crore | Slots left: 6

Delhi Capitals: Available purse: Rs 13.40 crore | Slots left: 8

Punjab Kings: Available purse: Rs 53.30 crore | Slots left: 9

Kolkata Knight Riders: Available purse: Rs 10.75 crore | Slots left: 8

Mumbai Indians: Available purse: Rs 15.35 crore | Slots left: 7

Royal Challengers Bangalore: Available purse: Rs 35.40 crore | Slots left: 11

Rajasthan Royals: Available purse: Rs 37.85 crore | Slots left: 9

Sunrisers Hyderabad: Available purse: Rs 10.75 crore | Slots left: 3

McCullum's response to Punter!

Best of luck to both of us skipper

— Brendon McCullum (@Bazmccullum) February 18, 2021

Stage is set!

Stage set for VIVO #IPLAuction 2021

franchises to bid for some of the best players in the world in a few hours from now

Are you ready? pic.twitter.com/EzYVkHUKRA

— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) February 18, 2021

Top draw Mark Wood pulls out of IPL 2021 auction

INR 2 crore is the highest reserve price and Wood was among the eight overseas players, who chose to be slotted in the highest bracket.

Franchises were informed at a briefing in Chennai on Wednesday that the pacer had decided to pull out of the auction in order to spend time with his family at home. (READ MORE)

IPL Player Auction 2021 is all set to begin!

The IPL Player Auction 2021 will begin at 3 pm and will be held in Chennai. This year will have a mini-auction and has let the franchises retain any number of players. And a total of 164 Indian players, 124 overseas players and 3 players from Associate Nations will be up for grabs.

The live telecast of the same will be broadcast on Star Sports 1 and Disney+ Hotstar.