There were a lot of heated bids and intense discussions during today’s Mini Auction for IPL 2021 in Chennai. KKR had Rs 10.75 crore to splurge after retaining 17 players and the biggest buy came in for Shakib Al Hasan (Rs 3.2 Cr).

We needed 8 players to have a full 25-member-strong squad and KKR went on to pick some interesting players at a great price to fine-tune the side, including seasoned campaigners Ben Cutting and Harbhajan Singh. Cutting can work as a great lower-middle-order batsman and deliver those lethal bouncers, while Harbhajan fills in the place for a strong Indian off-spinner with experience. The other five buys included Sheldon Jackson, Viabhav Arora, Karun Nair, Venkatesh Iyer, Pawan Negi.

KKR’s list of buys:

Player name Bidding value (Rs) State/COUNTRY Role
Shakib Al Hasan 3.2cr Bangladesh Left hand bat/left arm orthodox
Harbhajan Singh 2cr Punjab Right hand bat/ right arm offbreak
Sheldon Jackson 20L Saurashtra Right hand batsman/keeper
Ben Cutting 75L Australia Right hand bat/ right hand Fast Medium
Viabhav Arora 20L Himachal Pradesh Right-hand bat/right arm medium
Karun Nair 50L Karnataka Right hand bat/right arm offbreak
Venkatesh Iyer 20L Madhya Pradesh Left hand bat/right arm medium
Pawan Negi 50L Delhi Left hand bat/left hand orthodox

Following the auctions, KKR vice-captain Dinesh Karthik and head coach Brendon McCullum took to Twitter to welcome the players to the Knight Riders family. #ToofaniFans are you all set to scream once again, “Korbo, Lorbo, Jeetbo”?