Bengaluru: Pawan Negi emerged as the costliest Indian player, pipping out the likes of Yuvraj Singh, Dinesh Karthik, Ashisn Nehra and others, in the 2016 Indian Premier League Players’ auction that took place in Bengaluru on Saturday. Meanwhile, Shane Watson was the costliest buy overall.

Negi, an all-rounder, who plays for Delhi in the domestic season and has been selected for the World T20 and Asia Cup, is yet to play a match for India. Having a base price of Rs 30 lakh, he was bought by the Delhi Daredevils for a whopping Rs 8.5 crore after an intense bidding war with Pune Supergiants.

Earlier, Negi played for Chennai Super Kings. Quite ecstatic about the price he got at the auction, Negi told Sony Six, "I'm quite happy with my selection for Delhi Daredevils. They have a good team and management and looking ahead to do well for them."

Meanhwile, Yuvraj Singh, who was the costliest player in the 2015 (Rs 16 crore) and 2014 (Rs 14 crore), was bought by Sunrisers Hyderabad for Rs 7 crores.
However, it was Shane Watson who managed the maximum bid in the IPL Auction for the 2016 season as he was bought by the Royal Challengers Bangalore for Rs 9.5 crores.

Veteran Ashish Nehra, who used to play for CSK and had a great season last year, will now play for Sunrisers Hyderabad. He was bought for Rs 5.5 crores by the franchise.

Meanwhile, England’s Kevin Pietersen, who had a good run with the bat during the BBL, was bought by the Rising Pune Supergiants for Rs 3.5 crores.

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