IPL Auction Highest Bid: Most Expensive Player Ever, Sold and Unsold
Few sights in world sport are quite like the IPL auction room when the bidding for a marquee player refuses to stop. Paddles rise, franchises dig in, and within minutes a cricketer’s fortunes are changed forever. Since the first auction in 2008, the records for the highest bids have been smashed again and again — and the current benchmark stands at a staggering INR 27 crore, paid for one player at the 2025 mega auction. Here is the full story of the most expensive players in IPL auction history, the record bids that fell along the way, and the famous names who, remarkably, went unsold.
IPL auction highest bids at a glance
| Fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Highest bid ever | Rishabh Pant — INR 27 crore (Lucknow Super Giants, 2025 mega auction) |
| Second highest | Shreyas Iyer — INR 26.75 crore (Punjab Kings, 2025) |
| Highest bid for an overseas player | Cameron Green — INR 25.20 crore (Kolkata Knight Riders, 2026 mini auction) |
| Most expensive uncapped Indian | Prashant Veer and Kartik Sharma — INR 14.20 crore each (Chennai Super Kings, 2026) |
| Biggest total spend at one auction | INR 639.15 crore (2025 mega auction) |
The all-time top auction bids
The 2025 mega auction in Jeddah rewrote the record books twice in the space of minutes. Punjab Kings spent INR 26.75 crore on Shreyas Iyer, only for Lucknow Super Giants to go higher moments later, landing Rishabh Pant for INR 27 crore. Delhi Capitals tried to use their right-to-match card on Pant at INR 20.50 crore, and later at a higher figure, but LSG’s final raise to 27 crore sealed the deal, making Pant the most expensive player in IPL auction history. LSG owner Sanjiv Goenka later explained he had anticipated DC would go as high as 26.75 crore — the budget they had shown for Iyer — and decided 27 crore was the only way to make sure of his man.
The latest edition of the list gained a new entry at the December 2025 mini auction in Abu Dhabi, when Kolkata Knight Riders beat off competition — including a late push from Chennai Super Kings — to sign Australia’s Cameron Green for INR 25.20 crore, the highest bid ever for an overseas player.
| Rank | Player | Price (INR) | Team | Auction |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rishabh Pant | 27.00 crore | Lucknow Super Giants | 2025 (mega) |
| 2 | Shreyas Iyer | 26.75 crore | Punjab Kings | 2025 (mega) |
| 3 | Cameron Green | 25.20 crore | KKR (Kolkata Knight Riders) | 2026 (mini) |
| 4 | Mitchell Starc | 24.75 crore | KKR (Kolkata Knight Riders) | 2024 |
| 5 | Venkatesh Iyer | 23.75 crore | KKR (Kolkata Knight Riders) | 2025 (mega) |
| 6 | Pat Cummins | 20.50 crore | Sunrisers Hyderabad | 2024 |
| 7 | Sam Curran | 18.50 crore | Punjab Kings | 2023 (mini) |
| 8 | Arshdeep Singh | 18.00 crore | Punjab Kings | 2025 (mega) |
| 9 | Cameron Green | 17.50 crore | Mumbai Indians | 2023 (mini) |
| 10 | Ben Stokes | 16.25 crore | Chennai Super Kings | 2023 (mini) |
| 10 | Chris Morris | 16.25 crore | Rajasthan Royals | 2021 |
How the record has climbed over the years
For a long time, the record bid crept upwards gently. In 2015, Delhi Daredevils paid INR 16 crore for Yuvraj Singh — a figure that stood as the benchmark for an Indian player for years. Chris Morris’s INR 16.25 crore move to Rajasthan Royals in 2021 nudged it forward, and that mark survived three full auctions.
Then came the great leap of 2024. At that auction, Sunrisers Hyderabad smashed the record for Pat Cummins at INR 20.50 crore, and within hours Kolkata Knight Riders went past it for Mitchell Starc at INR 24.75 crore. Starc had not played the IPL for eight years, but his reputation as a big-match bowler was enough to spark a bidding war — one that KKR would later feel was worth every rupee when he delivered in their 2024 title run.
The 2025 mega auction took things to another level entirely. Franchises arrived with fat purses after a full squad reset, and the Indian marquee names became the currency of the day. Shreyas Iyer’s INR 26.75 crore was a record for about twenty minutes, before Rishabh Pant’s INR 27 crore reset the ceiling once again. A whopping INR 639.15 crore was spent across that auction — the most money ever moved at a single IPL auction.
The Cameron Green twist: a record bid, but not a record pay cheque
Cameron Green’s INR 25.20 crore bid at the 2026 mini auction came with a remarkable catch. Under a rule introduced to stop overseas players from exploiting mini-auction demand, an overseas player’s actual fee at a small auction is capped at INR 18 crore — the highest retention bracket set ahead of the 2025 mega auction. Anything bid above that threshold goes to the BCCI for player welfare. So while KKR’s bid made Green the most expensive overseas player in auction history, surpassing Starc’s 24.75 crore, the Australian all-rounder himself takes home INR 18 crore.
It was a chaotic ten-minute bidding war. Mumbai Indians opened at INR 2 crore but had to drop out with a tiny purse; Rajasthan Royals took the price past INR 13 crore before exiting; then CSK joined against KKR and pushed it beyond 20 crore before KKR held their nerve. Fittingly, Green had been registered in the batters’ category because of an oversight by his manager — a detail that did nothing to cool the bidding.
When the money did not work out
Record bids do not guarantee record returns, and the Pant story is the cautionary tale of the lot. LSG’s INR 27 crore investment bought two poor seasons — seventh place in 2025 and bottom of the table in 2026 — with Pant managing 581 runs in 28 appearances and stepping down as captain in May 2026. Ahead of IPL 2027, he was traded back to Delhi Capitals, ending the most expensive signing in league history after just two years.
Other big-money deals have had mixed fortunes too. Ben Stokes’s INR 16.25 crore move to CSK in 2023 was wrecked by injury, while Sam Curran’s INR 18.50 crore Punjab deal in 2023 was solid without ever quite matching the hype. Starc, by contrast, is the gold standard: expensive, yes, but a match-winner in a title-winning campaign.
Then there is the newest chapter of big spending: at the same 2026 mini auction, CSK spent INR 14.20 crore each on two uncapped Indians, 20-year-old Prashant Veer and 19-year-old wicketkeeper Kartik Sharma — both from a base price of just INR 30 lakh — breaking Avesh Khan’s INR 10 crore record from 2022 for the most expensive uncapped Indian player. Delhi Capitals also paid INR 8.40 crore for Jammu and Kashmir seamer Auqib Nabi. The message is clear: franchises are now willing to bet serious money on youth.
The other end of the room: famous players who went unsold
For every record bid, there is a stunned silence when a famous name gets no paddle at all. The most shocking example came at the 2022 mega auction, where Suresh Raina — “Mr IPL” himself, with 5,528 runs in 205 matches at the time — found no bidders in either round at a base price of INR 2 crore. CSK, his spiritual home, did not even bring him back in the accelerated round.
Raina was not alone. Former Australia captain Steve Smith, England’s World Cup-winning captain Eoin Morgan — who had led KKR to the 2021 final — and Australia’s T20 World Cup-winning captain Aaron Finch all went unsold in 2022, victims of poor recent form and heavy base prices. Shakib Al Hasan, Ishant Sharma, Dawid Malan and Cheteshwar Pujara joined them on the sidelines.
The 2026 mini auction produced its own surprises, with Prithvi Shaw, Sarfaraz Khan, former CSK opener Devon Conway and Jake Fraser-McGurk all going unsold. It is a reminder that in the auction room, reputation counts for nothing — only current form, role fit and purse math.
What drives these record bids?
Three things combine to create a record bid. First, scarcity: Indian match-winners are the rarest commodity because every XI needs at least seven of them, which is why the top two bids of all time are both Indians. Second, purse size: mega auctions and mini auctions with big remaining purses (KKR had INR 64.3 crore in 2026) inflate prices. Third, narrative: captaincy material like Pant, Iyer and Cummins attracts a premium because franchises are buying leadership as well as runs or wickets. Add a bidding war between two wealthy teams, and the numbers stop being rational — which is exactly what makes the auction such compelling theatre.
Frequently asked questions
Who is the most expensive player in IPL auction history?
Rishabh Pant, bought by Lucknow Super Giants for INR 27 crore at the 2025 mega auction. He edged past Shreyas Iyer’s INR 26.75 crore bid from the same auction, which had stood as the record for only a matter of minutes.
What is the highest bid ever for an overseas player?
Cameron Green’s INR 25.20 crore bid by Kolkata Knight Riders at the 2026 mini auction. He surpassed Mitchell Starc’s INR 24.75 crore (KKR, 2024). However, because of the IPL’s mini-auction overseas fee cap, Green actually receives INR 18 crore, with the excess going to the BCCI for player welfare.
Do players actually receive the full bid amount?
Usually, yes — the winning bid is the player’s auction fee for the season. The exception is overseas players at mini auctions, where the fee is capped at INR 18 crore under a rule introduced ahead of the 2026 auction; anything bid above that goes to the BCCI’s player welfare fund rather than the player.
Who was the most expensive player before Rishabh Pant?
Mitchell Starc held the record at INR 24.75 crore (KKR, 2024 auction) until the 2025 mega auction. Before Starc, the record belonged to his Australia captain Pat Cummins at INR 20.50 crore (SRH) — set just hours earlier at the same 2024 auction.
Which famous players have gone unsold at IPL auctions?
The most famous unsold names came at the 2022 mega auction: Suresh Raina, Steve Smith, Eoin Morgan and Aaron Finch all found no bidders. More recently, Prithvi Shaw, Sarfaraz Khan, Devon Conway and Jake Fraser-McGurk went unsold at the 2026 mini auction.
Who is the most expensive uncapped player in IPL history?
Prashant Veer and Kartik Sharma, bought by Chennai Super Kings for INR 14.20 crore each at the 2026 mini auction. They broke Avesh Khan’s record of INR 10 crore from the 2022 auction.
Conclusion
From Yuvraj Singh’s INR 16 crore in 2015 to Rishabh Pant’s INR 27 crore a decade later, the IPL auction’s ceiling has nearly doubled — and the 2026 mini auction showed the inflation is not slowing, with record bids for an overseas star and two uncapped teenagers. Yet the auction’s history also teaches humility: the most expensive signing ever lasted two seasons before being traded, while some of the game’s greats have walked out of the room with no paddle raised at all. When the next auction begins ahead of IPL 2027, expect the records to be threatened again — and expect a few surprises nobody saw coming.
