As the 2016 season of the Indian Premier League approaches its grand finale on Sunday, the time for introspection is nigh. After all, the bucks that went into the making of the teams were big, to say the least.

It's that time of the year when we cast our mind back to the auction and either sagely laugh at a franchise’s absolute lack of sense, or marvel at how it managed to seal a deal that no one else had anticipated. Here’s a look at some of the best and the worst buys of this year’s IPL auction.

Best Buys 1: Chris Morris

Bought by Delhi Daredevils for Rs 7 crore from a base of Rs 50 lakh.

The Daredevils have a reputation for making bids that make no sense – Yuvraj Singh for a massive Rs 16 crore last season – and it looked like they had made another one when they fought a fierce bidding war to land South African all-rounder Chris Morris’s services. Morris seemed a handy all-rounder, but was he really worth that hefty price tag?

Turns out Delhi made a smart choice. A few days after the auction, Morris celebrated the bid with a 38-ball 62 assault, taking South Africa home in a thrilling victory against England in a One-Day International. He topped both the batting and bowling tables for the Daredevils in the IPL, scoring 195 runs at an average of 65 and picking up 13 wickets at an average of just 23. His best moment: a whirlwind unbeaten 82 from 32 balls against Gujarat Lions in a chase that Delhi lost by a single run.

Best Buys 2: Shane Watson

Bought by Royal Challengers Bangalore for Rs 9.5 crore from a base of Rs 2 crore.

What seems stunning now in retrospect is that both Rising Pune Supergiants and Gujarat Lions could have had Watson had they picked him in the player draft for the new franchises. But both let him go for the player auction.

Watson was picked up by Royal Challengers Bangalore and, amidst the heroics from Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers, the Australian played a key role in Bangalore’s jour to the final. At many stages in the season, it was he who finished off the innings with some big shots, as a strike-rate of over 130 demonstrates. With the ball, he was worth his weight in gold – cannily stopping runs at key moments and making the occasional breakthrough. Up until the final, he had taken 20 wickets in 15 matches at 21.20.

Best Buys 3: Mustafizur Rahman

Bought by Sunrisers Hyderabad for Rs 1.4 crore from a base of Rs 50 lakh.

The Sunrisers pulled off one heck of a bargain. Mustafizur Rahman has been the crown jewel of Hyderabad’s attack, with his changes of pace and his cutters making him near unplayable at times. An economy of just 6.7 shows how difficult he has been to get away.

He might be second on his team's wicket-takers' list, but leader Bhuvneshwar Kumar will readily agree that quite a few of his 21 wickets in the competition up until the second Qualifier were a result of the pressure created by the Fizz at the other end.

Worst buys 1: Pawan Negi

Bought by Delhi Daredevils for Rs 8.5 crore from a base of Rs 30 lakh.

With Pawan Negi, the Daredevils played true to their own history. The 23-year-old from Delhi was the highest-priced Indian player at the auction, but his returns on the field were abysmal. He played in eight matches, but hardly got a chance to bat or to turn his arm over, bowling only nine overs in the tournament and ending with one solitary wicket.

He was woefully out of form when it came to batting as well – in the must-win encounter against Royal Challengers Bangalore, Negi stuck around and wasted 12 balls to score six runs. His overall strike-rate in the tournament was below 100.

Worst Buys 2: Mohit Sharma

Bought by Kings XI Punjab for Rs 6.5 crore from a base of Rs 1.5 crore.

Bottom-placed Kings XI Punjab’s biggest buy this season was Mohit Sharma. And it just didn’t work out well for them. Sharma, normally very reliable at the death, lost his radar this season and sprayed it all over. Despite his 13 wickets, he just didn’t provide the control for which he was bought, leaving Punjab with a mountain to climb in almost every match.

Worst Buys 3: Deepak Hooda

Bought by Sunrisers Hyderabad for Rs 4.2 crore from a base of Rs 10 lakh.

This 21-year-old from Haryana was bought for 42 times his base price at the auction. After playing 13 games in the tournament, his average was a lowly 11.41, with a top score of only 34. But more than that, it was the nature of his dismissals that led to much exasperation – Hooda was run-out three times out of three in Hyderabad’s last three games.