The Mumbai Indians broke the bank to get back wicketkeeper-batsman Ishan Kishan at the ongoing IPL mega auction on Saturday, making a winning bid of Rs 15.25 crore to make the 23-year-old the second-most expensive Indian in the tournament’s history. 

MI waited for the second session to engage in a bidding war with Sunrisers Hyderabad, eventually shelling out over $2 million to retain Kishan’s services. The Ranchi-born player’s base price was Rs 2 crore. 

“I’m really excited to be back at MI. I know everyone has treated me there like a family so I am really happy to be there and I hope to give my best to the team. Thank you so much,” said the 23-year-old Kishan.

In the morning session, which was thrown slightly haywire due to sudden health scare to auctioneer Hugh Edmeades, stylish India international Shreyas Iyer was bought by KKR for Rs 12.25 crore. Sports presenter Charu Sharma eventually took over the auction duties.

With every team needing to re-build aside from the core, Indian players were expected to come at premium prices and all the current internationals, most of them under 30, became million dollar buys.

Some of the successful franchises like Chennai Super Kings once again focussed on retaining their core base like Dwayne Bravo (Rs 4.40 crore), Ambati Rayudu (6.75 crore) and Robin Uthappa (2 crore).