IPL auction: Day one in quotes

As the first day of the IPL auction ends, here's a look at some of the most interesting quotes of the day.

Kings XI Punjab co-owner Priety Zinta, IPL Chairperson Rajiv Shukla, BCCI secretary Amitabh Choudhary and Sunrisers Hyderabad mentor VVS Laxman at the first day of the PL auction 2018 in Bengaluru on Saturday.

On a day when 78 of the 110 players who featured in the auction went under the hammer, there was lots of buzz in the media enclosure as well. Sportstar lists important quotes of the day:

- Amitabh Choudhary, BCCI acting secretary, explains the state of affairs about Rajasthan Royals' home turf

The suspension of RCA (Rajasthan Cricket Association) is as good as gone. They are back in the BCCI’s fold. Along with that was the case of Jaipur ground.

READ: AS THE ACTION TOOK PLACE

We have had a recce done and are anticipating something good would come. The Supreme Court has extended the termination of lease of the ground till the end of IPL.

- Ranjit Barthakur, Rajasthan Royals co-owner and chairman, on the highest bid of the day

The ECB has cleared him (Ben Stokes) for auction. He is legally available, therefore we have bid for him. He’s a very important part. We're like a start up company. We're restarting and pressing the reset button.

PHOTO FEATURE: Top buys in day one of the IPL auction

We're trying to build the team and an all-rounder is absolutely important. Unlike other teams, we do not have very many players for retention. Our favourite blue-blooded player is Ajinkya (Rahane), so we retained him with an RTM. In a start-up mode, we're trying to invest up front.

- VVS Laxman, Sunrisers Hyderbad mentor is all smiles with big signings

Shikhar Dhawan, Manish Pandey and Shakib Al Hasan were all part of our No. 1 priority list and we are extremely delighted to have them on board.

- Preity Zinta, Kings XI Punjab co-owner on bidding fiercely early on in the morning

The early bird gets the worm. Every franchise has similar names on the list. All the players we wanted came up early so we went for them. I made that mistake in some of the auctions before. We just went for these players because some we couldn’t do without.

- Amrit Thomas, Royal Challengers Bangalore chairman

It is hard to let go of players who have done well in the past. We have put the best combination together with the money we have. K. L. (Rahul) should be happy that we didn’t retain him because he got a lot more. We were keen on him but we are happy with the combination we’ve got.

- Stephen Fleming, Chennai Super Kings head coach explains the conundrum over choosing the off-spinner

We picked up Harbhajan Singh because Ashwin was going to go for a high price. We just chose a different direction. Sometimes you have to put a price on people’s heads. It’s hard when you’re working your budget early in the auction.

Ashwin has bowled well in Test cricket. We are happy with our choice. The skill-set is the same.

- Ricky Ponting, Delhi Daredevils head coach on lower price tags for veterans Gambhir, Harbhajan and Yuvraj

This game (T20) is getting increasingly difficult to play. Younger players are picking up skills a lot earlier. Young Indians are getting to learn early. As an older player it’s tough to improve. You can maintain, but you’re on a steady decline. That might be the major reason.

As of now Gambhir will lead the side. He would like the opportunity to come back home and lead the team. Nothing to fault in his time in KKR. Last season with KKR was very good as well. It will help Rishabh and Shreyas as well.

- Akash Ambani, Mumbai Indians owner on objecting to the proposal of rescheduling start timing of IPL games to 5.30pm and 7pm

We are one of the two (teams who have objected). The people of Mumbai work till 6.30-7, it’s going to be impossible to make it to the game at 7pm.You’re impacting a lot of things. We’re not for it.

I am very happy to see the teams laying emphasis is on uncapped players. I am happy that they are showing such interest in them. This is the USP of IPL and the move to introduce uncapped players earlier has worked.