Mitchell Starc is the most expensive player in IPL history: The most expensive player retained for IPL 2025 is Heinrich Klaasen, who has been retained by Sunrisers Hyderabad for Rs 23 crore. But this amount does not make him the most expensive player in IPL history because last year Mitchell Starc had bought Kolkata Knight Riders for Rs 24.75 crore. On one hand, Kolkata team’s mentor Gautam Gambhir was not ready to back down, on the other hand, Gujarat Titans also had a hand in making Starc the most expensive player.
Mumbai Indians and Delhi Capitals started bidding in the mini auction of IPL 2024, but both these teams did not have much money left in their purse. Moving forward, a bidding war started between Kolkata Knight Riders and Gujarat Titans. Tension was rising at Oxon Hall, but the Gujarat and Kolkata owners were determined to make history. Gujarat finally gave up its stubbornness by investing Rs 24.50 crore and KKR bought Starc by making the last bid of Rs 24.75 crore.
Gujarat played a big bet
On one hand, Gujarat Titans, due to their stubbornness, forced KKR to bid Rs 24.75 crore on Mitchell Starc. Whereas the price of the most expensive player bought by Gujarat in the IPL 2024 auction was much less than Starc. The most expensive player bought by GT was Spencer Johnson, for whom Gujarat bid Rs 10 crore.
But, KKR has released Starc ahead of the IPL 2025 mega auction. Kolkata, on the other hand, have used all their 6 appearances, so they are left with no option to use the right-to-match card on Mitchell Starc. This time there will be a lot of money left in the purse of the teams, so there is a possibility that the price of the most expensive player in the mega auction may go up to Rs 24.75 crore.
