The players' auction for IPL 2021 has started. All 8 franchises are bidding on 298 cricketers in Chennai. More than one thousand players had registered their names for the auction. Of these, only 292 players got a place in the final list. One player withdrew from auction on last day, while 7 new players made their entry. Karun Nair was the first player to go under the hammer but went unsold. Alex Hales with a Rs 1.5 crore base price also remained unsold.
Royal Challengers Bangalore started bidding on Australia star Steve Smith. Bidding started at a base price of 2 crores. Delhi Capitals enterd the bid and Smith was acquired by Delhi Capitals for 2.2 crores.No bids for Aaron Finch, Evin Lewis and Hanuma Vihari. That completed Set 1. Finch, Lewis, Vihari, all unsold in round one.
Kolkata Knight Riders made the first bid on Australian star batsman Glenn Maxwell. Maxwell's base price was Rs 2 crore. After fierce bidding between Kolkata Knight Riders & RCB, CSK jumped into the battle for Maxwell. After a battle of the bids between CSK & RCB, Glenn Maxwell was sold to RCB for INR 14.25 Cr.