JEDDAH: Indian wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant became the most expensive cricketer in IPL history when Lucknow Supergiants franchise bought him for Rs 27 crore. The record for the most expensive player was broken twice in a matter of minutes as franchises opened their wallets to sign superstar players at the auction held in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Even before Pant bought Lucknow for Rs 27 crore, Punjab Kings had bought Kolkata champion Shrey Iyer for Rs 26.75 crore. With this, Starc’s record of being the most expensive player of IPL at Rs 24.75 crore was broken.
In the pre-season auction last season, Kolkata had bought Starc for a huge amount.
The dominance of Indian players was seen in the IPL auction held under the new rules. All-rounder Venkatesh Iyer got the jackpot in the auction. Although it was not the center of attraction before the auction, Kolkata’s own team of Venkatesanate bought it for Rs 23.75 crore after much speculation.
England’s Josh Butler emerged as the most expensive foreign player on the first day of the two-day IPL auction held in Jeddah. Butler was included in their team by Gujarat Titans for Rs 15.75 crore. The use of Right to Match (RTM) card was seen right at the beginning of the IPL auction. Fast bowler Arshdeep was bought by Hyderabad team for Rs 18 crore. However, the Punjab team used his RTM card to include him back in their team.
In the IPL auction, different franchises included 20 players in their team by bidding Rs 10 crore or more.
Bengaluru and Hyderabad had shown interest in signing Pant, but Lucknow was ready to buy him at any price and eventually he was signed for a record Rs 27 crore. Earlier, efforts were made in Punjab and Kolkata to buy Shreyas Iyer and Delhi also jumped into it. Ultimately Punjab bought him for Rs 26.75 crore.
Most expensive player of all time in IPL
cricketer
Country
Amount (Rs.)
Team
Rishabh Pant
India
27.00 crores
Lucknow
Shreyas Iyer
India
26.75 crores
Punjab
Mitchell Starc
Australia
24.75 crores
Kolkata
Venkatesh Iyer
India
23.75 crores
Kolkata
pat cummins
Australia
20.50 crores
Hyderabad
Sam Curran
England
18.50 crores
Punjab
Arshdeep
India
18.00 crores
Punjab
Yuzvendra Chahal
India
18.00 crores
Punjab
cameron green
Australia
17.50 crores
Mumbai
shares
England
16.25 crores
Chennai
C. Morris
Like
16.25 crores
Rajasthan
