IPL Auction 2018: List of Sold Players and Highest Bids from Saturday

England all-rounder Ben Stokes will play for the Rajasthan Royals in the 2018 Indian Premier League after being purchased at auction for almost £1.4 million.

Stokes, who was named as the Most Valuable Player in the 2017 edition of the competition, was signed for 12.5 crore and will play alongside Australia captain Steve Smith with the Royals as well as England team-mate Jos Buttler.

After Stokes, Manish Pandey and Lokesh Rahul were the most costly purchases, with the former joining Sunrisers Hyderabad and the latter acquired by Kings XI Punjab. The Kolkata Knight Riders, meanwhile, spent big on the Australian duo of Chris Lynn and Mitchell Starc.

Here is a look at the biggest names secured from Saturday's auction, per the IPL Twitter account:

The squads assembled so far can be viewed on ESPNcricinfo. The auction will continue on Sunday, when the eight rosters will be finalised.

Stokes To Represent Royals

Last season, Stokes became the highest-paid international player in IPL history when he was signed for £1.7 million by the Rising Pune Supergiant franchise.

In the tournament, he made a tremendous century against the Gujarat Lions, hammering a match-winning 103 not out from 63 balls. He also picked up three Player of the Match trophies.

The man himself took to Twitter to express his delight at joining the Royals for the 2018 term:

"Ben Stokes is just our kind of guy," said Rajasthan owner Ranjit Barthakur on Facebook (h/t Kalika Mehta of Sky Sports). "(He is) a fantastic performer, a cricketer of today and a cricketer of the future."

Buttler, who recently made a stunning one-day international century against Australia, will be part of what is a potentially devastating Rajasthan batting lineup.

He's pleased to have Stokes on his side:

The Royals did some more fascinating recruitment on Saturday, with Ajinkya Rahane arriving for just 4 crore. They also secured exciting 22-year-old IPL debutant Jofra Archer, who has been impressing with bat and ball as of late in the Big Bash League after playing for Sussex last summer.

Pandey joins a Hyderabad side that have an intriguing order, with skipper David Warner retained. In addition to the duo, the Sunrisers did some smart business in the form of Shikhar Dhawan and Kane Williamson.

Rahul, meanwhile, is a costly pickup for Kings XI. As noted by Harsha Bhogle, Punjab blew their rivals out of the water with the money they were willing to spend on the 25-year-old:

The Knight Riders were active in the market on Saturday. Having opted against retaining their longstanding skipper Gautam Gambhir, they needed to restructure their batting lineup; with that in mind, it's no surprise to see they moved for Lynn, who is a power player at the top of the order.

In addition, Kolkata strengthened their bowling attack with the signing of Starc, who is renowned as a specialist in both Test and limited-overs formats.

The Australian international had a message for the supporters of his new side:

Glenn Maxwell is another player who can be devastating in this form of the game, and he's on his way to Delhi Daredevils along with Gambhir.

Given his inconsistent form as of late, journalist Peter Miller is unsure whether the Daredevils are getting value for money in Maxwell:

In addition to the signings, there were a number of players who weren't secured by any of the eight teams, and among them were some big names.

Chris Gayle and Lasith Malinga, both IPL veterans and icons, are available to sign on Sunday, as is England Test captain Joe Root and his international team-mate Jonny Bairstow. Australian bowlers Mitchell Johnson and Josh Hazlewood also ended the day unsold.