IPL History: Most expensive player in each IPL season

It won’t be wrong to say that the auction for the Indian Premier League (IPL) is as exciting as the tournament itself. Over the years, the auction has given the game of cricket some most exciting and beautiful stories. From unknown faces becoming millionaires to big names going unsold, the last 16 auctions of the IPL have seen it all.

The IPL auction 2024 broke the record for the most expensive signing twice with two Australians, Pat Cummins and Mitchell Starc reshuffling the leaderboard one after another. 

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Most Expensive Player in IPL History (season-wise):

In the very first-ever auction, MS Dhoni was the costliest player and it did not raise any eyebrows. Following India’s triumph in the 2007 T20 World Cup and Dhoni’s abilities as a batsman and captain, he was the most in-demand player in the auction. Chennai Super Kings had secured his services for Rs 9.5 crores. Since then, he has been with the Chennai-based outfit and has led them to three IPL titles.

In the following year, two England players – Kevin Pietersen and Andrew Flintoff – became the costliest players before Shane Bond and Kieron Pollard took the honours ahead of IPL 2010. For the 2011 edition, Kolkata Knight Riders made Gautam Gambhir the costliest player by splashing a whopping amount of Rs 14.9 crores.

In the following seasons, the likes of Yuvraj Singh (twice), Ben Stokes (twice), Ravindra Jadeja, and Jaydev Unadkat became the costliest players. In the 2020 season, Pat Cummins (15.5) became the costliest player in the history of IPL with Chris Morris (16.25), Ishan Kishan (15.25) and Sam Curran (18.5) getting the honours in the next three. 

In the IPL 2024 auction Cummins yet again broke the bank and went for INR 20.50 crore and seemed like he'd reign supreme on the charts but it was his compatriot Mitchell Starc who raced onto INR 24.75 crore in the IPL 2024 auction and became the most expensive player in IPL history. 

As the Indian Premier League mega-auction is taking place in Jeddah, dynamic Indian wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant was acquired by Lucknow SuperGiants for INR 27 crore, becoming the most expensive player in IPL history so far. 

Here is the complete table of IPL’s most expensive players (season-wise)