The IPL auction, which sets new records each year, has become a tradition. A record-breaking purchase was made before each IPL edition, and we saw the same at his IPL auction in 2023. But this time it turned out to be historic as England all-rounder Sam Curran broke all previous records and became the most expensive purchase of any IPL outlay.
Sam has been bought by the Punjabi Kings (PBKS) for a whopping Rs 1.85 crore. The highest paid player tag was that of South African all-rounder Chris Morris, acquired by the Rajasthan Royals for his Rs 16.6 crore in 2020. Apart from Curran, Australian all-rounder Cameron Green was bought by the Mumbai Indians for Rs 1.75 billion, making him the second most expensive player in IPL auction history.
Star all-rounder Ben Stokes also got his Rs 16.25 crore and Chennai joined the Super Kings (CSK) camp. Harry Brook, a young batsman from England, broke the Rs 1 billion mark and Sunrisers he was acquired by Hyderabad (SRH) for his Rs 13.25 crore.
In his first IPL edition, the CSK skipper was signed by MS Dhoni for his whopping Rs 9.5 crore. A year later, England’s Andrew Flintoff and Kevin Pietersen overtook Dhoni with his CSK and Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) being bought by his Rs9.8 crore respectively. Let’s take a look at the most expensive purchases at each IPL auction.
- ₹9.5 crore: MS Dhoni (Chennai Super Kings) – 2008
- ₹9.8 crore: Andrew Flintoff (Chennai Super Kings), Kevin Pietersen (Royal Challengers Bangalore) – 2009
- ₹4.8 crore: Shane Bond (Kolkata Knight Riders), Kieron Pollard (Mumbai Indians) – 2010
- ₹14.9 crore: Gautam Gambhir (Kolkata Knight Riders) – 2011
- ₹12.8 crore: Ravindra Jadeja (Chennai Super Kings) – 2012
- ₹6.3 crore: Glenn Maxwell (Mumbai Indians) – 2013
- ₹14 crore: Yuvraj Singh (Royal Challengers Bangalore) – 2014
- ₹16 crore: Yuvraj Singh (Delhi Capitals) – 2015
- ₹9.5 crore: Shane Watson (Royal Challengers Bangalore) – 2016
- ₹14.5 crore: Ben Stokes (Rising Pune Supergiants) – 2017
- ₹12.5 crore: Ben Stokes (Rajasthan Royals) – 2018
- ₹8.4 crore: Jaydev Unadkat (Rajasthan Royals), Varun Chakravarthy (Kings XI Punjab) – 2019
- ₹15.5 crore: Pat Cummins (Kolkata Knight Riders) – 2020
- ₹16.6 crore: Chris Morris (Rajasthan Royals) – 2021
- ₹15.25 crore: Ishan Kishan (Mumbai Indians) – 2022
- ₹18.50 crore: Sam Curran (Punjab Kings) – 2023