Stokes lands bumper IPL contract as Root, Gayle remain unsold

England all-rounder Ben Stokes demonstrated he remains cricket's hot property despite his off-field troubles after being sold for $1.97m in Saturday's auction ahead of this year's Indian Premier League T20. Rajasthan Royals offered 125m Indian rupees for the 26-year-old who has been charged with affray following an incident in Bristol last September which cost him a place on England's Ashes tour of Australia. "Buzzing to be representing @rajasthanroyals in this years IPL and great to be playing alongside @josbuttler," tweeted Stokes, who was judged IPL's Most Valuable Player last year when he represented the Pune Warriors franchise. Stokes reunites with Australia captain Steve Smith, who was also at Pune last year. Rajasthan and Chennai Super Kings return to the league after a two-year suspension following a corruption scandal.

Jos Buttler joins Ben Stokes at Rajasthan Royals; Mumbai Indians don't use their right-to-match cardhttps://t.co/uHfp2TEjhr #AuctionDay #IPLauction pic.twitter.com/nSHr5FUOqV

— ESPNcricinfo (@ESPNcricinfo) January 27, 2018

National team mate and wicketkeeper Jos Buttler joined Stokes at Rajasthan but England captain Joe Root found no taker on the opening day of the two-day auction. The eight franchises also showed no interest in West Indies opener Chris Gayle and fellow T20 stalwart Lasith Malinga of Sri Lanka who is the leading wicket-taker in the tournament's decade-old history. Sunrisers Hyderabad used their right-to-match option to retain Rashid Khan for 90m rupees after King's XI Punjab made an aggressive bid for the teenaged Afghan spinner. Australian players, once again, earned big bucks ahead of the 11th edition of the T20 league beginning in April.

Ben Stokes goes for Rs 12.5 crore (approx US$1.95 mn) to Rajasthan Royals - he got 14.5 crore last year https://t.co/uHfp2TEjhr #AuctionDay #IPLAuction pic.twitter.com/BhRC2UyLcZ

— ESPNcricinfo (@ESPNcricinfo) January 27, 2018

Kolkata Knight Riders bought Australia's limited overs specialist Chris Lynn for 96m rupees and their Ashes hero Mitchell Starc for 94m, while Delhi Daredevils secured the service of all-rounder Glenn Maxwell for 90m. Sussex all-rounder Jofra Archer's stellar Big Bash performance for Hobart Hurricanes made him the subject of a fierce bidding war which ended with Rajasthan buying the Barbados-born player for 72m rupees, 18 times his base price. Among the Indians, batsmen Manish Pandey (Hyderabad) and Lokesh Rahul (Punjab) went for 110m rupees.