Picture shows gavel, auction sheet from inaugural IPL auction

The inaugural Indian Premier League (IPL 2008) auction sheet, which featured the former India and Chennai Super Kings Captain, MS Dhoni, was shared by former IPL auctioneer Richard Madley in 2019. It subsequently triggered the nostalgic memories of one of the most iconic moments in the cash-rich league's history.

Notably, on February 20, in 2008, the legendary Dhoni went under the hammer. In that auction, the wicketkeeper-batter was successfully secured by one of the most popular IPL franchises, Chennai Super Kings (CSK), for a whopping $.1.5 million. Interestingly, CSK had outbid another popular franchise Mumbai Indians (MI) to acquire the services of the stalwart.

For the unversed, before the auction, Chennai had to face some backlash from the fans for not naming an icon player of the franchise, unlike other IPL teams. However, amid all the criticism, they roped in the Jharkhand cricketer and subsequently appointed him as the captain. Dhoni led CSK from the front and helped them win five titles.

While posting the photo, Madley described the Dhoni bidding act as one of the most iconic of his career and in the history of cricket.

Richard Madley, who conducted the auction in 2008, had shared the picture of the "first-ever auction sheet". Details of Dhoni's purchase were written on that sheet alongside fellow iconic players like Shane Warne, Shoaib Akhtar, Adam Gilchrist, Muttiah Muralitharan, and Mahela Jayawardena.

Check out the tweet below:

Richard Madley@iplauctioneer

Just found my one and only auction sheet for the historic first ever #VIVOIPL auction in 2008. @msdhoni sold to @ChennaiIPL A rare piece of cricket memorabilia Will be watching #CSKvMI on @hotstarUK #CricketMeriJaan #WhistlePodu #VIVOIPLFinal

01:12 PM · May 12, 2019

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Dhoni led CSK last season after Ruturaj Gaikwad was ruled out due to an injury. The Men in Yellow finished last in a season for the very first time. Chennai are entering Tuesday's IPL 2026 mini-auction with the second-highest purse. Having released several players last month, the five-time champions will want to assemble a strong squad, with an eye on redemption next year.