IPL Auction 2022 Highlights: Rassie Van Der Dussen has been sold to Rajasthan Royals for Rs 1 crore

Cheteshwar Pujara predictably went unsold at the auction while Ajinkya Rahae got a base price of Rs1 crore from Kolkata Knight Riders. However, the first session's highlight was Livingstone, who hit the million dollar plus mark with five teams bidding for him at one point in time.

Interestingly, Livingstone played for Rajasthan Royals in the previous season and didn't actually perform well on slow tracks but franchises with still slots to filled (minimum 18 per squad) looked desperate for him. Marco Jansen, the South African pacer, who tormented India during Test series, got Rs 4.2 crore from Sunrisers Hyderabad.

The two teams that engaged in bidding war were SRH and Punjab with more than Rs 20 crore and Rs 28 crore in their kitty at start of the day.

Day 1 Recap
Local batsman Ishan Kishan bagged a $2.02-million deal, overseas spinners were largely snubbed and the auctioneer collapsed on stage on an eventful opening day of the Indian Premier League (IPL) players' auction on Saturday.

IPL giants Mumbai Indians bought back explosive batsman Kishan for Rs 15.25 Cr ($2.02 million) after staving off competition from Punjab Kings, Gujarat Titans and Sunrisers Hyderabad.

Holders Chennai Super Kings forked out Rs 14 Cr to keep seamer Deepak Chahar, while twice champions Kolkata Knight Riders bought India batsman Shreyas Iyer for Rs 12.25 Cr.

The auction was halted after auctioneer Hugh Edmeades collapsed on stage during the bidding in a Bengaluru hotel.

"The IPL auctioneer had an unfortunate fall due to Postural Hypotension during the IPL auction this afternoon," the league said in a statement.

"The medical team attended to him immediately after the incident and he is stable."

Broadcaster Charu Sharma stepped in to continue the auction and the league's 10 franchises demonstrated their appetite for homegrown spinners after the lunch break.

Three years after Ravichandran Ashwin ran out Jos Buttler when the England batsman had backed up in an IPL game, the duo will be seen playing together for Rajasthan Royals.

Buttler is one of the three players Rajasthan had retained.

Australia test captain Pat Cummins returned to Kolkata for Rs 7.25 Cr, a hefty cut from the Rs 15.5 Cr he drew last year.

Australian duo David Warner and Mitchell Marsh will play under compatriot Ricky Ponting who is the head coach at Delhi Capitals.

Overseas spinners including Adam Zampa of Australia, South African Imran Tahir, England's Adil Rashid and Bangladesh spin all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan went unsold.

They can still be sold if franchises nominate them for Sunday's auction.

Six hundred players have registered to fill 217 places for this year's tournament which will begin in the last week of March.