IPL auction 2018 highlights: Ben Stokes most expensive player at Rs 12.5 cr, Chris Gayle, Lasith Malinga find no takers

17:40 Unsold in this round: Aditya Tare, Ben McDermott, Shivam Dubey, Siddhesh Lad, Jitesh Sharma and Nikhil Naik.

17:26 Australian Darcy Short sold to Rajasthan Royals for Rs 4 crore. Handy pick for the Royals as his left-arm wrist spin will come in handy.

17:00 SunRisers Hyderabad use their RTM to retain Deepak Hooda for Rs 3.6 crore.

16:52 Rahul Tewatia sold to Delhi Daredevils for Rs 3.0 crore.

16:48 All-rounders to be in focus in this evening session.

16:24 Prithvi Shaw has been taken by Delhi Daredevils for Rs 1.2 crore.

16:22 Intense bidding for India's Under 19 captain Prithvi Shaw. Mumbai Indians, Delhi Daredevils and Rajasthan Royals vying for the youngster.

16:21 Manan Vohra has been picked up by RCB for Rs 1.1 crore after KXIP refused to use the RTM card.

16:17 Rahul Tripathi sold to Rajasthan Royals for Rs 3.4 crore.

15:55 Kolkata Knight Riders use their RTM to retain Kuldeep Yadav for Rs 5.8 crore.

15:21 Spinners in focus in this round of action. All eyes will be on Rashid Khan. First up in this round is Piyush Chawla, who goes to Kolkata Knight Riders for Rs 4.20 crore.

15:05 Delhi Daredevils use RTM and retain Mohammed Shami for Rs 3.0 crore.

14:59 Pat Cummins sold to Mumbai Indians for Rs 5.4 crore.

14:39 Ambati Rayudu sold to Chennai Super Kings for Rs 2.2 crore.

14:15 Parthiv Patel goes unsold, Quinton de Kock sold to RCB for Rs 2.8 crore.

14:02 The auction process has resumed.

13:06 Auction action resumes at 2:00 pm IST.

13:02 Stuart Binny sold to Rajasthan Royals for Rs 50 lakh, Kiwi batsman Colin Munro sold to Delhi Daredevils for Rs 1.9 crore, Australian Marcus Stoinis sold to Kings XI Punjab for Rs 6.2 crore, Moeen Ali sold to RCB for Rs 1.7 crore.

12:50 Yusuf Pathan sold to SRH for Rs 1.90 crore. James Faulkner remains unsold.

12:44 Kedar Jadhav will be going to Chepauk. CSK pick him for Rs 7.6 crore. RCB do not use the RTM card.

12:40 CSK have picked up Shane Watson for Rs 4 crore.

12:32 With all-rounders up for grabs, the fourth round of auction sees RCB bag Chris Woakes for Rs 7.4 crore for the first draft.

12:33 Three sets are over. Set number four will comprising of all-rounders.

12:16 South Africa’s Hashim Amla surprisingly goes unsold. He was in good form for KXIP in the last edition.

12:07 Chris Lynn goes to Kolkata Knight Riders for Rs 9.6 crore.

11:58 This is becoming a Kings XI Punjab affair in the auction. They now have Aaron Finch after adding Yuvraj, Karun Nair, Rahul, Ashwin, Miller to their ranks.

Brendon McCullum, who lit up the inaugural IPl with his swashbuckling century, sold to Royal Challengers Bangalore for Rs 3.60 crore.

11:52 Murali Vijay goes unsold. Kings XI Punjab use RTM to retain David Miller for Rs 3 crore. Miller holds the record of scoring the fastest century in T20 cricket.

11:45 KL Rahul sold to Kings XI Punjab for Rs 11 crore. Kings XI Punjab have been very aggressive at the bidding table. Earlier they bought R Ashwin for Rs 7.6 crore.

11:40 Kings XI Punjab take Karun Nair for Rs 5.6 crore after an intense bidding war with Rajasthan Royals.

11:38 Dwayne Bravo goes to Chennai Super Kings for Rs 6.4 crore, Kane Williamson retained by SunRisers Hyderabad for Rs 3 crore while Yuvraj Singh is snapped up by Kings XI Punjab for Rs 2 crore.

11:23 Yuvraj Singh returns to Kings XI Punjab for the first time since 2010. Bagged for Rs 2 crore.

11:18 Gautam Gambhir will play for the Delhi Daredevils. Bagged for Rs 2.8 crore.

11:13 After a massive bidding war, Glenn Maxwell sold to Delhi Daredevils for Rs 9 crore.

11:02 Second session of auction begins with Harbhajan Singh being sold to Chennai for Rs 2 crore.

10:38 Rajasthan Royals use RTM to buy Ajinkya Rahane for Rs 4 crore.

10:34 Extremely competitive bidding for Ben Stokes who is sold to Rajasthan Royals for Rs 12.50 crore.

10:33 Highly competitive bidding for Ben Stokes who is sold to Rajasthan Royals .

10:28 Chris Cayle goes unsold.

10:24 Fierce bidding for Kieron Pollard. Mumbai Indians show interest to retain him.

10:23 Kings XI Punjab snap up Ravichandran Ashwin for Rs 7.6 crore.

10:19 Shikhar Dhawan retained by Sunrisers Hyderabad through the Right to Match route for Rs 5.20 crore.

10:14 Shikhar Dhawan is the first player in the auction today to go under the hammer.

10:10 Rajiv Shukla, Chairman of the IPL has welcomed Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals back into the fold.

09:52 The auction is set to begin at 10:00 am, less than 10 minutes from now. IPL officials and franchise owners are seen arriving at the venue.

09:47 Looks like the proceedings are about to begin. Officials are arriving at the venue as we wait for the first visuals.

2008: MS Dhoni (6.00)

2009: Andrew Flintoff-Kevin Pietersen (7.50)

2010: Kieron Pollard-Shane Bond (4.00 plus)

2011: Gautam Gambhir (11.04)

2012: Ravindra Jadeja (9.72 plus)

2013: Glenn Maxwell (5.30)

2014: Yuvraj Singh (14.00)

2015: Yuvraj Singh (16.00)

2016: Shane Watson (9.50)

2017: Ben Stokes (14.50)

09:20 Probable biggest overseas picks: Evin Lewis, Rashid Khan, Ben Stokes and Mitchell Starc.

09:18 Murali Vijay, KL Rahul, Kedar Jadhav, Dinesh Karthik, Robin Uthappa, Yuzvendra Chahal and Karn Sharma have set their base price at Rs 2 crore.

09:13 Richard Madley will be standing in his 11th IPL auction. Over the last ten years, he has become face of the auction day.

08:55 Each team is allowed to retain 5 players through a combination of direct retention and the Right to Match.

Here are the players that teams have retained directly:

Delhi Daredevils: Rishabh Pant, Shreyas Iyer and Chris Morris

Mumbai Indians: Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah and Hardik Pandya

Chennai Super Kings: MS Dhoni, Suresh Raina and Ravindra Jadeja

Royal Challengers Bangalore: Virat Kohli, Sarfaraz Khan, AB de Villiers

Kolkata Knight Riders: Sunil Narine and Andre Russell.

Sunrisers Hyderabad: David Warner and Bhuvneshwar Kumar

Rajasthan Royals: Steve Smith

Kings XI Punjab: Axar Patel

08:43 Procedure, squad composition, money factor and the 'star players' to watch out for: Here's all you need to know.

08:17 The auction is expected to be the largest yet, as most players, other than the ones retained by their respective teams, will be placed back into the auction pool. This means players that have not been retained will automatically be available for other teams to bid for.

However, franchises can exercise their 'Right to Match (RTM)' under which, a team will be able to retain a player by matching the highest bid amount placed by any other team.

Having directly retained three capped players already, Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings cannot use the RTM card for Harbhajan Singh and Ravichandran Ashwin, respectively. In order to retain them, both teams will have to be the highest bidders when the two players come up for auction.

Here's a look at players available for retention through the RTM route.

08:12 An Indian Premier League (IPL) auction is a stage where the word ‘surprise’ is an understatement. We have seen relatively lesser known and uncapped players getting snapped by teams at astounding prices and this year will be no different.

Here's a look at 5 uncapped Indian players who can hit jackpot in this auction.

08:06 Good morning! This LIVE blog will track the Indian Premier League Player auction where 578 players from 13 nations will be vying for 182 slots today and tomorrow.

The auction, one of the largest in the tournament's history is expected to begin shortly in Bengaluru. Stay tuned for the latest updates from the auction.