IPL: Season wise highest paid cricketers

India’s premier cricket league, the Indian Premier League (IPL) has been a success story ever since its induction. And now with the cash-rich league set to enter a new decade, the upcoming edition promises to reach the epitome of grandeur. The new season will also see the return of two franchises into the fray, Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals who will be making a comeback after serving a two-year ban.

While the IPL has been clinical in unearthing numerous talents all across the globe, its ever-increasing popularity has transcended it into one of the most expensive leagues in the world. The league has changed the entire landscape of cricket in the country. From a time when the nation was struggling to have more than one option for a specific role, the league has assisted and provided a dearth of talents, not just to India but to cricketing nations all across the world.

And with IPL 2018 still a few months away, the anticipation surrounding it has already started. With the mega-auctions slated to take place later this month, all the franchises have released their list of retained players. The Board has also revealed the base prices at which the players have earmarked themselves.

A whopping 578 cricketers will go under the hammer at IPL 2018 Auction. With a 20% hike in the salary cap, the franchises are expected to spend big in a bid to acquire the best players. The highest base price for a player is set at Rs 2 crore and includes 36 players in the list.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni emerged as the costliest pick, bought by Chennai Super Kings (CSK) for a whopping $1.5 million in the first-ever IPL auctions. After Dhoni’s success, there have been other cricketers in the following years who created history by attracting big money. Yuvraj Singh and Ben Stokes were part of that record-breaking group.

Thus ahead of the auction process, we take a quick recap at the most expensive cricketers to go under the hammer in each season.

You can see the full list below

2008 – MS Dhoni ($1.5 million) – Chennai Super Kings (CSK)

2009 – Andrew Flintoff (England) ($1.5 million) – CSK; Kevin Pietersen (England) ($1.5 million) – Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB)

2010 – Shane Bond ($750,000+) – Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR); Kieron Pollard ($750,000+) – Mumbai Indians (MI)

Note: Both Bond and Pollard were bought in tie-breakers for an undisclosed sum through secret bids after more than one team showed interest. Deccan Chargers (DC) and KKR were involved in tie-breaker for Bond while MI, RCB, CSK and KKR were tied for Pollard.

2011 – Gautam Gambhir ($2.4 million) – KKR

2012 – Ravindra Jadeja ($2 million+) – CSK

Note: Jadeja was bought by CSK in a secret tie-breaker beating DC.

2013 – Glenn Maxwell (Australia) ($1 million) – MI

2014 – Yuvraj Singh (Rs 14 crore) – RCB

2015 – Yuvraj Singh (Rs 16 crore) – Delhi Daredevils

2016 – Shane Watson (Australia) (Rs 9.5 crore) – RCB

2017 – Ben Stokes (England) (Rs 14.5 crore) – Rising Pune Supergiant (RPS)

Note: From 2014, IPL Auctions shifted from US dollars to Indian rupees for buying players.

To get latest news and live updates on IPL auctions and other cricketing news around the world, keep following CricTracker.com