Ben Stokes, Tymal Mills headline IPL auction ahead of 2017 season

England all-rounder Ben Stokes and speedster Tymal Mills are set to make their debut in the Indian Premier League 2017 season after they were picked in the auction conducted on Monday.

Stokes, who had recently admitted his aspiration to play in the lucrative Twenty20 league attracted bids from five franchises which include Mumbai Indians, Royal Challengers Bangalore, Delhi Daredevils and Sunrisers Hyderabad but in the end it was Rising Pune Supergiants, who snared him for a staggering $2.17 million.

This also means Stokes will be playing under his Ashes rival skipper Steven Smith for the franchise, who was quick to welcome him on his social media handle Twitter.

"Welcome to Pune @benstokes38 first round is on you," posted Smith.

Pune owner Sanjiv Goenka admitted that the 25-year-old ability to create impact with both the bat and the ball prompted them to go for the Durham all-rounder despite his unavailability in the final phase of the tournament when England host South Africa.

"He's a complete player and he completes our squad. We've been lacking this one genre of player," he said.

"We knew he was going to be there for the first 14 games ... We pretty much knew we were not going to get him for below this price."

Mills, who is known as a T20 specialist has played four games for England in the shortest format in which he has picked three wickets and has an economy rate of 7.25 and was taken by Virat Kohli led Royal Challengers Bangalore for a INR 12 crore price.

England skipper Eoin Morgan, who was earlier released into the auction was taken at base price of INR two crore by Kings XI Punjab while Trent Boult and Kagiso Rabada have been snared for INR five crore were picked by Kolkata Knight Riders and Delhi Daredevils respectively.

Afghanistan players Mohammad Nabi and Rashid Khan had a productive auction and are set to make their debut while Mitchell Johnson returns to his former team Mumbai Indians.

Martin Guptill and Jason Roy, who were both not picked in the early round was later grabbed by Kings XI Punjab and Gujarat Lions respectively but Jonny Bairstow went unsold on both rounds of auction.

© Cricket World 2017