A total of 57 players were sold in the IPL auction 2021 in Chennai as the teams splurged 145 crores to get their hands on the players they desired. The Bharat Army takes a look at the main highlights, the complete list of IPL Squads after the first auction, the BA IPL Auction grades based on the picks, remaining purse and much more!

Main Highlights of IPL Auction 2021:

(i) Chris Morris became the costliest player in the history of the Indian Premier League as he broke the previous record set by Yuvraj Singh. The Proteas all-rounder was sold to the Rajasthan Royals for a whopping sum of 16.25 crores. 

(ii) Krishnappa Gowtham also broke the bank becoming the most expensive uncapped player in IPL auction history as he was bought for 9.25 crores by the Chennai Super Kings.

(iii) Another uncapped player who earned big was Tamil Nadu’s Shahrukh Khan as he was bought for INR 5.25 crores by the Punjab Kings after a big war with RCB. 

(iv) The other big-buys were Kyle Jamieson and Glenn Maxwell as they were both roped in by the Royal Challengers Bangalore for 15 crores and 14.25 crores respectively.

(v) Jhye Richardson, the leading wicket-taker of the Big Bash League 2020-21, will be plying his trade for the Punjab Kings and was the 4th highest buy of the auction as he was swooped in for INR 14 crores. 

Here's how the 8 IPL teams look and their BA IPL Auction grades and Analysis of their squads after the ‘mini’ auction:

Mumbai Indians -

BA IPL Auction Grade: A+

Retained players: Rohit Sharma, Aditya Tare, Anmolpreet Singh, Anukul Roy, Dhawal Kulkarni, Hardik Pandya, Ishan Kishan, Jasprit Bumrah, Jayant Yadav, Kieron Pollard, Krunal Pandya, Quinton de Kock, Rahul Chahar, Suryakumar Yadav, Trent Boult, Chris Lynn, Saurabh Tiwary, Mohsin Khan

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

Purse remaining: INR 3.65 crores

Best Probable XI: Rohit Sharma, Quinton De Kock, Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan, Hardik Pandya, Krunal Pandya, Kieron Pollard, Trent Boult, Rahul Chahar, Jasprit Bumrah, Adam Milne/Nathan Coulter-Nile

Analysis: The Mumbai Indians went into the auction with just the need of buying an overseas pacer. They will be pretty glad about the returns as they got Nathan Coulter-Nile for a cheaper price than they released him and also got their hands on Adam Milne. Milne was comparatively cheaper than the other pacers and overall no real loopholes in their squad, the defending champions will be happy with the performance. 

Royal Challengers Bangalore -

BA IPL Auction Grade: C

Retained Players: Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers, Devdutt Padikkal, Md. Siraj, Navdeep Saini, Washington Sundar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Joshua Phillipe, Pavan Deshpande, Shahbaz Ahmed, Adam Zampa, Kane Richardson

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

Money Left: INR 0.35 crores

Best Probable XI: Devdutt Padikkal, Mohammed Azharudden, Virat Kohli, Glenn Maxwell, AB De Villiers, Dan Christian, Washington Sundar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kyle Jamieson, Mohammad Siraj, Navdeep Saini

Analysis: Royal Challengers Bangalore spent almost 30 crores on just the two players as they have taken an uncalculated risk with Kyle Jamieson and Glenn Maxwell. The Australian all-rounder hasn’t hit a half-century in the IPL since 2016 but the franchise will hope that he comes good while Jamieson hasn’t really proved himself in these conditions. 

They got an overpriced buy and failed to get their first-choice death bowlers and hence the franchise didn’t quite have a good auction.  

Delhi Capitals -  

BA IPL Auction Grade: B

Retained players: Shreyas Iyer, Ajinkya Rahane, Amit Mishra, Avesh Khan, Axar Patel, Ishant Sharma, Kagiso Rabada, Prithvi Shaw, R Ashwin, Rishabh Pant, Shikhar Dhawan, Shimron Hetmyer, Marcus Stoinis, Lalit Yadav, Anrich Nortje, Pravin Dubey, Chris Woakes

Players bought: Tom Curran (INR 5.25 crore), Steven Smith (INR 2.2 crore), Sam Billings (INR 2 crore), Umesh Yadav (INR 1 crore), Ripal Patel (INR 20 lakh), Vishnu Vinod (INR 20 lakh), Lukman Meriwala (INR 20 lakh), M Siddharth (INR 20 lakh)

Purse remaining: 3.65 crores

Best Probable XI: Prithvi Shaw, Shikhar Dhawan, Shimron Hetmyer, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant, Marcus Stoinis, Axar Patel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Anrich Nortje, Kagiso Rabada, Umesh Yadav

Analysis: The Delhi Capitals have dug a hole for themselves having bought Steve Smith. With Shreyas Iyer and Ajinkya Rahane already in their ranks, while Prithvi Shaw being consistent, Smith’s addition might well be a liability. It will be interesting to see who makes the top 5 of the Capitals but at the moment, Smith and Rahane don't make the best XI.

The Capitals will be glad as they had a ‘steal’ in Umesh Yadav and also bought Sam Billings who is a great back-up keeper. They don't have a backup pace-bowling all-rounder for Marcus Stoinis as they traded out Harshal Patel and that's the only cause of concern. 

Sunrisers Hyderabad -

BA IPL Auction Grade: B+

Retained players: David Warner, Abhishek Sharma, Basil Thampi, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jonny Bairstow, Kane Williamson, Manish Pandey, Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan, Sandeep Sharma, Shahbaz Nadeem, Shreevats Goswami, Siddarth Kaul, Khaleel Ahmed, T Natarajan, Vijay Shankar, Wriddhiman Saha, Virat Singh, Priyam Garg, Mitchell Marsh, Jason Holder, Abdul Samad

Players bought: Kedar Jadhav (INR 2 crore), Mujeeb Ur Rahman (INR 1.5 crore), J Suchith (INR 30 lakh)

Purse remaining: INR 6.95 crore

Best Probable XI: David Warner, Wriddhiman Saha, Manish Pandey, Kane Williamson, Abdul Samad, Abhishek Sharma, Rashid Khan, Jason Holder, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, T Natarajan, Sandeep Sharma

Analysis: The Sunrisers Hyderabad will enter the IPL 2021 with the same issues as the previous edition. They failed to buy an overseas pacer which they needed as a backup to Jason Holder, which was perhaps their only requirement at the auction. They bought Kedar Jadhav who could provide stability to the underbelly with his experience but given that they need spin-bowling all-rounders, he won't be guaranteed in the XI. It is unlikely that any of the auction buys will make the first XI for SRH. 

Chennai Super Kings -

BA IPL Auction Grade: A

Retained players: MS Dhoni, Suresh Raina, Ambati Rayudu, KM Asif, Deepak Chahar, Dwayne Bravo, Faf du Plessis, Imran Tahir, N Jagadeesan, Karn Sharma, Lungi Ngidi, Mitchell Santner, Ravindra Jadeja, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shardul Thakur, Sam Curran, Josh Hazlewood, R Sai Kishore

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

Purse remaining: INR 2.55 crore 

Best Probable XI: Faf Du Plessis, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Suresh Raina, Moeen Ali, MS Dhoni, Ravindra Jadeja, Dwayne Bravo, Sam Curran, K Gowtham, Shardul Thakur, Deepak Chahar

Analysis: The Chennai Super Kings seemed to have solved a number of issues for themselves on the auction table. With the addition of Moeen Ali, they have a southpaw who bats in the top-order alongside Raina and can provide them with the bowling option as well. Krishnappa Gowtham’s buy gives them the off-spin option and he will be a certainty in the playing XI. They have great batting depth and plenty of bowling options in their potential best XI. 

Punjab Kings -

BA IPL Auction Grade: A

Retained players: KL Rahul, Arshdeep Singh, Chris Gayle, Darshan Nalkande, Harpreet Brar, Mandeep Singh, Mayank Agarwal, Mohd. Shami, M Ashwin, Nicholas Pooran, Sarfaraz Khan, Deepak Hooda, Ishan Porel, Ravi Bishnoi, Chris Jordan, Prabhsimran Singh

Players bought: Jhye Richardson (INR 14 crore), Riley Meredith (INR 8 crore), Shahrukh Khan (INR 5.25 crore), Moises Henriques (INR 4.2 crore), Dawid Malan (INR 1.5 crore), Fabian Allen (INR 75 lakh), Jalaj Saxena (INR 30 lakh), Saurabh Kumar (INR 20 lakh), Utkarsh Singh (INR 20 lakh)

Purse remaining: INR 18.80 crores

Best Probable XI: Kl Rahul, Mayank Agarwal, Chris Gayle, Nicholas Pooran, Shahrukh Khan, Deepak Hooda, Jhye Richardson, Mohammad Shami, Jalaj Saxena/Murugan Ashwin, Ravi Bishnoi, Chris Jordan

Analysis: The Punjab Kings have a strong top-order and got their hands on one of the best death bowling options available, Jhye Richardson. Richardson can bat at fag-end of the innings as well. Their 5-6-7 underbelly might be a bit weak and they have their task cut out of assembling a balanced squad depending on who they start with as all-rounders. 

Kolkata Knight Riders -

BA IPL Auction Grade: A

Retained players: Eoin Morgan, Andre Russell, Dinesh Karthik, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Kuldeep Yadav, Lockie Ferguson, Nitish Rana, Prasidh Krishna, Rinku Singh, Sandeep Warrier, Shivam Mavi, Shubman Gill, Sunil Narine, Pat Cummins, Rahul Tripathi, Varun Chakravarthy, Tim Seifert

Players bought: Shakib Al Hasan (INR 3.2 crore), Harbhajan Singh (INR 2 crore), Ben Cutting (INR 75 lakh), Karun Nair (INR 50 lakh), Pawan Negi (INR 50 lakh), Sheldon Jackson (INR 20 lakh), Venkatesh Iyer (INR 20 lakh), Vaibhav Arora (INR 20 lakh)

Purse remaining: INR 3.20 crore

Best Probable XI: Shubman Gill, Rahul Tripathi, Nitish Rana, Eoin Morgan, Dinesh karthik, Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Lockie Ferguson/Pat Cummins, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Shivam Mavi, Varun Chakravarthy

Analysis: The auction strategy of the Kolkata Knight Riders showed that they will trust in their Indian players. They didn’t quite go for a replacement for Tom Banton and in all probability will be opening with Rahul Tripathi alongside Shubman Gill. 

The 2-time champions will be glad about Shakib Al Hasan’s return to the franchise as well as Ben Cutting’s addition as a backup to Andre Russell who has been prone to injury in recent times. 

Rajasthan Royals -

BA IPL Auction Grade: A+

Retained players: Sanju Samson, Ben Stokes, Jofra Archer, Jos Buttler, Mahipal Lomror, Manan Vohra, Mayank Markande, Rahul Tewatia, Riyan Parag, Shreyas Gopal, Jaydev Unadkat, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Anuj Rawat, Kartik Tyagi, David Miller, Andrew Tye

Players bought: Chris Morris (INR 16.25 crore), Shivam Dube (INR 4.4 crore), Chetan Sakariya (INR 1.2 crore), Mustafizur Rahman (INR 1 crore), Liam Livingstone (INR 75 lakh), Akash Singh (INR 20 lakh), KC Cariappa (INR 20 lakh), Kuldip Yadav (INR 20 lakh)

Purse remaining: INR 13.65 crore

Best Probable XI: Ben Stokes, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Jos Buttler, Sanju Samson, Riyan Parag, Shivam Dube, Rahul Tewatia, Jofra Archer, Chris Morris, Karthik Tyagi, Shreyas Gopal

Analysis: Rajasthan Royals were the best performers at the auction as they bought the best death bowling option available, Chris Morris. Shivam Dube will be the power-hitter in the lower middle-order and will complement Parag and Tewatia. They have decent fast-bowling backups in Mustafizur Rahman and Akash Singh and have no real weaknesses.