As many as 57 players were sold during the mini IPL auction on February 18, with 22 overseas cricketers.
A host of celebrities assembled at the auction in Chennai. Team owners. Cricket legends. Coaches, accompanied by franchise CEOs and their analysts.
At this year's auction, two young faces were spotted at the KKR table. Aryan Khan and Jahnavi Mehta, the children of co-owners Shah Rukh Khan and Juhi Chawla. Jahnavi has been at IPL auctions before, but this was Aryan's first appearance at such an event.
Aryan has been attending KKR games right from the first season. During IPL 2020, he was seen in the stands in the UAE with his Bollywood superstar dad and sister Suhana.
Jahnavi, 19, clearly the apple of her father's eye, has been spotted at IPL matches games too with her dad.
'So happy to see both the KKR kids, Aryan and Jahnavi, at the auction table', actress Juhi Chawla, Jahnvi's mother, tweeted.
'It is about fine tuning this time,' Jahnavi revealed the KKR thinking at the auction.
'Shah Rukh Khan's advice was just to go and get who you want. Shakib (al-Hassan, the Bangladesh all-rounder) was part of our team when we won twice, so he's kind of a lucky charm. Nice to have Sheldon Jackson back too.'
We may not see much of Preity Zinta on the big screen these days, but the co-owner of the Punjab Kings ensured the cameras were pretty much focused on her animated expressions and those oh-so-cute dimples at the auction.
Seated between Anil Kumble, bona fide cricket legend and Punjab Kings coach, and franchise CEO Satish Menon, Preity stole the show with her cute reaction on bagging M Shahrukh Khan for her team.
When Punjab bought the uncapped 25-year-old Tamil Nadu all-rounder Khan for Rs 5.15 crore (Rs 51.5 million), the actress clapped her hands in glee, looked at Aryan -- who was mostly expressionless whenever the cameras focused on him -- and quipped, 'We got Shahrukh'.
But the lady who wowed social media at the IPL auction was pretty Kaviya Maran.
Seated between an unsmiling-through-the-auction gent on her right and SRH Mentor the legendary V V S Laxman on her left, Kaviya had the punters puzzled about her presence.
A brief intro to the 29-year-old CEO of the SunRisers Hyderabad franchise. Her parents Kaveri and Kalanithi Maran own the SUN TV Network empire.
Her paternal grandfather was the late Murasoli Maran, a Union minister at the Centre; her uncle Dayanidhi Maran -- her dad's younger brother -- was a minister in UPA1.
Her paternal great granduncle was the late Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam titan M Karunanidhi whose son M K Stalin could well be Tamil Nadu's next chief minister.
Kaviya's maternal origins are in Coorg; her mother Kaveri is the daughter of insurance executive Jammada Belliappa and his wife Neena Belliappa from Gonikoppa in Coorg.
Kaveri met the visionary media baron Kalanithi on a visit to Chennai and love blossomed. Kaviya is their only child and the heir to the multi-billion Sun empire.
Kaviya makes a pretty sight at SRH games which she always attends, something she has in common with Mumbai Indians Owner Nita Ambani.
