Every December, half of India stops pretending to work and watches a man with a hammer sell cricketers. One paddle goes up, then another, and suddenly a fast bowler costs more than a small housing society in Pune.
With IPL 2027 retentions due on November 17 and the mini-auction reported for December 16 in Goa, this is the right time to look back at the most expensive players in IPL auction history. Below you get the full Top 10, the exact price, the team that paid it, and the story behind each bid.
Quick Answer: The Top 10 at a Glance
- Rishabh Pant, ₹27 crore (LSG, 2025): the biggest bid the IPL has ever seen.
- Shreyas Iyer, ₹26.75 crore (PBKS, 2025): a title-winning captain who held the record for a few minutes.
- Cameron Green, ₹25.20 crore (KKR, 2026): the costliest overseas player ever.
- Mitchell Starc, ₹24.75 crore (KKR, 2024): the bowler who repaid his price in the final.
- Venkatesh Iyer, ₹23.75 crore (KKR, 2025): the shock of the Jeddah mega auction.
- Pat Cummins, ₹20.50 crore (SRH, 2024): the first player to cross ₹20 crore.
- Sam Curran, ₹18.50 crore (PBKS, 2023): a World Cup hero who broke Chris Morris’s record.
- Matheesha Pathirana, ₹18 crore (KKR, 2026): the highest price ever for a Sri Lankan.
- Arshdeep Singh, ₹18 crore (PBKS, 2025): kept through the Right to Match card.
- Yuzvendra Chahal, ₹18 crore (PBKS, 2025): the costliest spinner in auction history.
A quick note on years: “2025” means the auction for the IPL 2025 season, which was actually held in November 2024. The same logic applies to every year in this list.
IPL Auction Records: Comparison Table
| Rank | Player | Price | Team | Season | Role |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rishabh Pant | ₹27.00 cr | Lucknow Super Giants | 2025 | Wicketkeeper-batter |
| 2 | Shreyas Iyer | ₹26.75 cr | Punjab Kings | 2025 | Batter, captain |
| 3 | Cameron Green | ₹25.20 cr | Kolkata Knight Riders | 2026 | All-rounder |
| 4 | Mitchell Starc | ₹24.75 cr | Kolkata Knight Riders | 2024 | Fast bowler |
| 5 | Venkatesh Iyer | ₹23.75 cr | Kolkata Knight Riders | 2025 | Batting all-rounder |
| 6 | Pat Cummins | ₹20.50 cr | Sunrisers Hyderabad | 2024 | Fast bowler, captain |
| 7 | Sam Curran | ₹18.50 cr | Punjab Kings | 2023 | All-rounder |
| 8 | Matheesha Pathirana | ₹18.00 cr | Kolkata Knight Riders | 2026 | Fast bowler |
| 9 | Arshdeep Singh | ₹18.00 cr | Punjab Kings | 2025 | Fast bowler |
| 10 | Yuzvendra Chahal | ₹18.00 cr | Punjab Kings | 2025 | Leg-spinner |
Spot the pattern? Kolkata and Punjab account for eight of the ten spots, four each. When these two franchises want someone, they rarely blink first.
1. Rishabh Pant: The ₹27 Crore Record
Rishabh Pant is the most expensive IPL player ever sold at an auction. Lucknow Super Giants paid ₹27 crore for him at the IPL 2025 mega auction in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
The bidding was pure drama. LSG and Royal Challengers Bengaluru started it, Sunrisers Hyderabad joined, and at ₹20.75 crore his old team Delhi Capitals used their Right to Match card. LSG then jumped straight to ₹27 crore, and Delhi let him go.
The story behind the price matters too. Pant came back from a life-threatening car accident in December 2022 and was part of India’s 2024 T20 World Cup-winning squad. LSG named him captain in January 2025.
- Why he’s No. 1: highest bid in IPL history, and the most expensive Indian ever.
- Good to know: the bid beat Shreyas Iyer’s record only minutes after it was set.
2. Shreyas Iyer: A Captain Worth ₹26.75 Crore
For a brief moment in Jeddah, Shreyas Iyer was the most expensive player in IPL history. Punjab Kings bought him for ₹26.75 crore, and the record stood until Pant’s name came up shortly after.
Iyer had just led Kolkata Knight Riders to their third IPL title in 2024, so his value as a leader was obvious. KKR opened the bidding to buy him back but dropped out at ₹10 crore. Delhi Capitals and Punjab Kings then pushed the price into record territory.
Punjab walked into that auction with the biggest purse, ₹110.5 crore, and made Iyer captain. That reunited him with head coach Ricky Ponting, his old boss at Delhi. Under Iyer, Punjab reached the playoffs for the first time since 2014.
- Best for: a team that needed a proven captain more than anything else.
- Why it’s here: second-highest bid ever, and Punjab’s price looked smart within one season.
3. Cameron Green: Most Expensive Overseas Player Ever
At the IPL 2026 mini-auction in Abu Dhabi on December 16, 2025, Kolkata Knight Riders paid ₹25.20 crore for Cameron Green. That made the Australian all-rounder the costliest overseas player the league has ever seen, and the third-most expensive overall.
Mumbai Indians bid first for their former player. Four teams then raised paddles 113 times, according to ESPNcricinfo, before KKR won.
There’s a twist, though. Under the new auction rules, Green only takes home ₹18 crore. The extra money goes towards player welfare. So the team spends ₹25.20 crore from its purse, but the player’s pay is capped.
This was not Green’s first big IPL payday. Mumbai Indians bought him for ₹17.50 crore in 2023, and he was later traded to RCB. He missed the 2025 mega auction while recovering from a back injury.
- Why it’s here: a record for any non-Indian player.
- Good to know: his real salary is ₹18 crore because of the overseas fee cap.
4. Mitchell Starc: The Bowler Who Paid It Back
When KKR paid ₹24.75 crore for Mitchell Starc at the IPL 2024 mini-auction in Dubai, plenty of fans laughed. Starc had not played in the IPL since 2015, and KKR spent roughly three-quarters of their auction purse on one fast bowler.
Nobody was laughing in May. Starc took three wickets against Sunrisers Hyderabad in Qualifier 1, then returned 2 for 14 in the final against the same team. KKR lifted their third trophy.
His bid also beat Pat Cummins’s record, which had been set only a short while earlier at the same auction. For a single day, Australian fast bowlers owned the top two spots.
- Why it’s here: the most expensive specialist bowler in IPL auction history.
- Pros: a big-match player who delivered in the playoffs.
- Cons: the price used up most of KKR’s purse that year.
5. Venkatesh Iyer: The Jeddah Surprise
Ask any cricket fan about the biggest shock of the 2025 mega auction, and many will say Venkatesh Iyer. KKR bought back their own batting all-rounder for ₹23.75 crore after a long fight with RCB.
To put that in context, KKR’s highest retained player that season was Rinku Singh at ₹13 crore. They spent almost double that to get Iyer back at the auction table.
Iyer was part of KKR’s 2024 title-winning squad. He can bat in different positions and bowl a few overs, which makes him useful in a T20 squad. Still, the price was far above what most experts had predicted.
- Why it’s here: fifth-highest bid ever, driven by a bidding war more than by form.
- Lesson: two teams that both want one player can push any price sky-high.
6. Pat Cummins: First Past ₹20 Crore
Pat Cummins made history at the IPL 2024 mini-auction as the first player ever to cross ₹20 crore. Sunrisers Hyderabad paid ₹20.50 crore after Mumbai Indians, Chennai Super Kings, RCB and SRH all showed interest.
His record lasted only a short while, as Starc’s bid came later that day. But SRH got exactly what they wanted: a fast bowler, a captain and a useful lower-order batter in one person.
Cummins took 18 wickets in IPL 2024 and led SRH to the final for the first time since 2016. They lost to KKR, but the captaincy alone made the deal look sensible.
- Why it’s here: the man who broke the ₹20 crore barrier.
- Good to know: his economy rate that season was on the higher side, around 9.27.
7. Sam Curran: The ₹18.50 Crore Benchmark
Before the ₹20 crore era, there was Sam Curran. Punjab Kings bought the England all-rounder for ₹18.50 crore at the 2023 auction, breaking Chris Morris’s old record of ₹16.25 crore.
Curran arrived fresh from the 2022 T20 World Cup in Australia, where he was named Player of the Tournament. Five franchises bid for him. Mumbai Indians went to ₹18.25 crore, but Punjab went one step higher.
Left-arm seam, death bowling and big hitting lower down the order: that combination is rare, and it’s why teams fought so hard. Curran later captained Punjab Kings too.
- Why it’s here: he held the all-time record until the 2024 auction.
- Best for: teams wanting two skills from a single overseas slot.
8. Matheesha Pathirana: Sri Lanka’s Costliest IPL Buy
Matheesha Pathirana was the second most expensive buy of the IPL 2026 auction. KKR paid ₹18 crore, which ESPNcricinfo called by far the highest for a player from Sri Lanka.
Delhi Capitals and Lucknow Super Giants opened the bidding. Delhi dropped out past ₹15.6 crore, then KKR came in late and pushed LSG out at ₹18 crore.
Pathirana made his name at Chennai Super Kings, who released him after the 2025 season and did not bid for him again. His slingy action and yorkers have earned him comparisons with Lasith Malinga, and death-over specialists like him are always in demand.
- Why it’s here: joint-eighth on the all-time list and a record for Sri Lanka.
- Good to know: he is tied at ₹18 crore with Arshdeep and Chahal; we list him first because his bid is the most recent.
9. Arshdeep Singh: India’s Death-Overs Specialist
Arshdeep Singh became the first Indian bowler to break Yuvraj Singh’s old auction record of ₹16 crore. Punjab Kings used their Right to Match card to keep him for ₹18 crore at the 2025 mega auction.
Seven franchises bid for the left-arm pacer, with Sunrisers Hyderabad pushing especially hard. His record as the costliest Indian lasted only a few minutes before Shreyas Iyer, and then Pant, went past it.
Arshdeep is one of India’s most trusted bowlers at the death in T20 cricket. Yorkers under pressure, wickets in the final overs: those skills are exactly what auction tables pay for.
- Why it’s here: a record price for an Indian fast bowler.
- Good to know: RTM let Punjab match the final bid instead of losing him.
10. Yuzvendra Chahal: The Costliest Spinner Ever
Spinners rarely top auction charts, which makes Yuzvendra Chahal’s ₹18 crore deal special. Punjab Kings signed the leg-spinner at the 2025 mega auction, the highest price ever paid for a spin bowler at an IPL auction.
Chahal is one of the leading wicket-takers in IPL history, with spells for RCB and Rajasthan Royals among others. His flight and turn in the middle overs give captains a way to take wickets, not just stop runs.
For Punjab, he gave Shreyas Iyer a proven spin option and helped round off a squad built at the same auction.
- Why it’s here: a record for spinners, tied at ₹18 crore.
- Best for: teams playing on grounds where spin grips.
How We Picked This List
This ranking is based only on the final hammer price at an official IPL player auction, in Indian rupees. We did not include retention amounts, trades or salary changes after the auction.
We checked each price against several reliable sources, including ESPNcricinfo, Business Standard, and auction coverage from publications such as Gulf News and NDTV Sports. Where three players sit at ₹18 crore, we’ve ranked the most recent buy first. We have not invented any rankings or numbers; if a detail could not be confirmed, it’s not here.
IPL Auction Myths and Honourable Mentions
A few things trip up fans every auction season. Here are the common ones.
- Myth: retained players count as auction buys. They don’t. Heinrich Klaasen, for example, was retained by SRH for ₹23 crore ahead of IPL 2025, but that was a retention, not a bid, so he isn’t on this list.
- Myth: the player always gets the full price. Not any more for overseas players at mini-auctions. Cameron Green’s ₹25.20 crore bid pays him ₹18 crore, with the rest going to player welfare.
- Myth: expensive means best. Starc proved his worth in a final. Others have had quieter seasons. Price shows demand on one day, not future form.
- Mistake: forgetting the auction year. The “2025” auction took place in November 2024. Many arguments online come from mixing these up.
Honourable mentions that just missed the Top 10:
- Cameron Green, ₹17.50 crore (MI, 2023), his first IPL contract.
- Ben Stokes, ₹16.25 crore (CSK, 2023).
- Chris Morris, ₹16.25 crore (RR, 2021), the record before Curran.
- Yuvraj Singh, ₹16 crore (Delhi Daredevils, 2015), long the Indian record.
- Prashant Veer and Kartik Sharma, ₹14.20 crore each (CSK, 2026), the most expensive uncapped players at that auction.
Our Take
Pant owns the record, but the best value on this list is Mitchell Starc. KKR paid a price people mocked, and he won them a trophy in the same season. That’s the dream for any franchise.
Shreyas Iyer is a close second: Punjab bought a captain and got their first playoff run in a decade. With the IPL 2027 auction coming up in December, keep an eye on KKR and Punjab. History says they will chase the biggest names again.
FAQs
Who is the most expensive player in IPL history?
Rishabh Pant. Lucknow Super Giants bought him for ₹27 crore at the IPL 2025 mega auction in Jeddah.
Who is the most expensive overseas player in IPL auction history?
Cameron Green, bought by Kolkata Knight Riders for ₹25.20 crore at the IPL 2026 auction. He beat Mitchell Starc’s ₹24.75 crore from 2024.
Does Cameron Green get the full ₹25.20 crore?
No. Under the new auction rules, his salary is capped at ₹18 crore. The remaining amount goes towards player welfare.
When is the IPL 2027 auction?
Reports say the mini-auction is set for December 16, 2026 in Goa. The BCCI extended the retention deadline to November 17, 2026. Check the official IPL website for final confirmation.
Which team has spent the most on record buys?
Kolkata Knight Riders and Punjab Kings each have four players in the all-time Top 10. KKR’s four alone add up to ₹91.70 crore.
Prices are final auction bids as reported by ESPNcricinfo, Business Standard and other publications, as of November 2026. IPL 2027 dates are based on reports and may change. For official updates, see the official IPL website and ESPNcricinfo’s IPL 2026 auction report.
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