IPL auctions have become massive events in the calendars of cricket fans in India. The intrigue of not only building a team, but also of the monetary value a player is given. One of the most exciting parts of these events is the highest price in IPL auctions. That is, which players are worth the most each year?
In the IPL 2025 auction, Rishabh Pant received a record-breaking bid of Rs. 27 crore from the Lucknow Super Giants. However, on the other hand, one of the highest-paid players from the 2024 auction, English all-rounder Sam Curran, saw an 87% pay cut.
So, another facet of this intrigue is whether the highest-paid players in each of the IPL auctions actually justify their price tags, or just end up becoming white elephants?
Today, we will discuss IPL’s highest bids, the players that were sold for magnanimous prices in the last five years, and whether these massive investments paid off for the teams that bought them
How the IPL Auction Price Record Has Broken Five Times in Five Years
The IPL auction price history for the highest-paid players over the last five years before the IPL 2026 auction was fascinating. Each year, the IPL bidding evolution has resulted in the record for the highest-paid player being broken almost every year.
In the five years and five auctions from 2021 to 2025, this record of the highest paid player was broken five times. Following is a table of IPL record bids timeline for a span of five years. This table gives an insight into franchise spending patterns, how multiple teams go after the same player and what makes them unique.
| Season | Highest Bid Player | Buying Team | Price (₹ Cr) | Previous Record Holder |
| IPL 2021 | Chris Morris | Rajasthan Royals | 16.25 | Yuvraj Singh (16 Cr) |
| IPL 2023 | Sam Curran | Punjab Kings | 18.50 | Chris Morris (16.25 Cr) |
| IPL 2024 | Mitchell Starc | KKR | 24.75 | Sam Curran (18.50 Cr) |
| IPL 2025 | Shreyas Iyer | Punjab Kings | 26.75 | Mitchell Starc (24.75 Cr) |
| IPL 2025 | Rishabh Pant | Lucknow Super Giants | 27.00 | Shreyas Iyer (26.75 Cr) |
Rishabh Pant at 27 Crore: The Highest Bid in IPL Auction History Explained
IPL 2025, for the first time since 2022, brought about a mega auction. A team could, at maximum, retain 5-6 players from their previous year’s squad. With all teams starting fresh, several teams were looking for an Indian wicketkeeper, while many were looking for a captain with experience.
One player who fit both criteria was Rishabh Pant. Before the auction, Pant was expected to be one of the highest bid IPL players in history in the IPL.
Mind you, earlier in the night, Shreyas Iyer had already broken the record of being the highest-paid player in IPL history when the Punjab Kings bought him for Rs. 26.75 crore.
The Four-Team Bidding War That Made Pant the Costliest Player Ever
A part of the first marquee set of the night, all the teams had a ton of cash left in their purses. IT was the Lucknow Super Giants that kicked off the bidding at the base-price of Rs. 2 crore, with the Royal Challengers Bengaluru joining the fray for the first leg of the bidding war.
The two teams quickly raised the price to Rs. 11 crore, at which point, RCB backed out, and Sunrisers Hyderabad joined the bidding. The two teams raised their paddles till the price went past the 20 crore mark. At Rs. 20.75 crore, LSG was in the driving position as SRH backed out. This was also the final bid.
However, the RTM rule in IPL auction allows for a team to match the bid for a former player of theirs, which is exactly what the Delhi Capitals did. At this point, the Super Giants had a chance to increase the bid. But if that raised bid was matched, Pant would go to DC.
So, to stave off the competition, LSG had to name an astronomically high amount, which they did when owner Sanjiv Goenka signalled for Rs. 27. Delhi Capitals RTM rejection meant that Pant went to the Lucknow Super Giants
Did Pant Actually Justify His 27 Crore Price Tag at LSG in IPL 2025?
Not really. Rishabh Pant was the team’s captain amid recent IPL captaincy changes, wicketkeeper, and star batter. While solid as a keeper, Pant failed as a captain, as 2025 was the first year where LSG lost more than half their matches in a season.
Then, as a batter, 2025 was the 28-year-old’s worst season in the IPL, as he scored 269 runs in 14 matches at an average of 24.45 and a strike rate of 133. The score tally was helped by a century in his last game of the season, before which the tournament was going quite badly for the star-wicketkeeper.
Sam Curran From 18.50 Crore Record Buy to 2.40 Crore Bargain Bin
The curious case of Sam Curran in the Indian Premier League explains how IPL auction busts are treated. From becoming the highest-paid player in the IPL 2023 auction, and remaining one of the highest-paid players in IPL 2024, Curran saw a 87% drop in his price in IPL 2025. But what is the story behind the Englishman going from an IPL record buy to a flop?
Why Punjab Kings Spent 18.50 Crore on Sam Curran in 2023?
Sam Curran was the Player of the Tournament of the 2022 T20 World Cup. Not only is he a proper all-rounder, but he also proved in that World Cup that he was one of the deadliest death over bowlers in world cricket.
His variations and slower ones not only made him one of the few left-arm death bowlers in the IPL. This made him highly desirable going into the IPL 2023 auction.
Punjab Kings’ 2023 auction strategy, well, their strategy in each IPL auction, is to rebuild their whole team around big names. And this year, the franchise chose that Sam Curran would be the star player. So, despite teams like the Mumbai Indians being interested in the all-rounder, the Kings outbid everyone and bought Curran for a whopping Rs. 18.25 crore.
What Went Wrong and How Curran Fell to a 2.40 Crore Resale?
PBKS kept up with the Sam Curran experiment for two seasons, even making him the team captain in the absence of Shikhar Dhawan. However, Sam Curran’s IPl underperformance for those two seasons also meant the team underperformed as a whole.
While the Englishman took 26 wickets across the two seasons, that was still not enough, seeing that he was one of the leading bowlers in the side, and that too at an economy of over 10. Then, with the bat, he scored only 546 runs across these two seasons at a strike rate of below 130.
All this made Sam one of IPL’s expensive flop buys. And so, when in 2025, Sam Curran entered the auction, the Chennai Super Kings bought him for Rs. 2.40 crore, and PBKS waived their RTM. This was an 87% pay cut from his 18.25 crore fee from the season before.
The Players Who Nearly Broke the Record and What Their Bids Revealed
Apart from the actual record breakers, there have also been players who have nearly broken the record for the highest price in IPL auction.
Shreyas Iyer PBKS 26.75 crore bid in the IPL 2025 auction was nearly the talk of the town minutes before LSG put up 27 crore for Rishabh Pant. However, unlike PAnt, SHreyas was among the highest run scorers of the season. He also captained the Kings to only their second IPL final. His bid going so high was mostly because of his ability as a captain, with him winning the IPL in 2024 as KKR skipper.
Venkatesh Iyer KKR 2025: In the same auction, the Madhya Pradewsh all-rounderwas brought back by the Kolkata Knight Riders for Rs 23.75 crore. His bid went so high because of his status as an all-rounder and a versatile batter who can bat anywhere in an order.
Arshdeep Singh 18 crore: Arshdeep Singh was the first buy of the IPL 2025 auction and was brought back to the Punjab Kings for Rs. 18 crore. Not only is Arshdeep one of the best powerplay bowlers in the country, but he is also arguably the best left-arm pacer in India, and hence, the high price.
The Players Who Nearly Broke the Record and What Their Bids Revealed
IPL highest bid players bring a lot of baggage with them. In the months before the start of the tournament, all eyes are on them, with their respective teams and the league as a whole waiting for them to perform, or waiting to troll them if they don’t.
IPL auction is ROI cricket, especially with rules like the impact player rule in IPL changing match dynamics. And the players that are paid obscene sums of money are rarely the best value for money buys. In IPL 2025, stars like Venkatesh Iyer and Rishabh Pant broke records with their bids. But their performance that season was one to forget.
Meanwhile, the Punjab Kings’ high-priced buys like spinner Yuzvendra Chahal and skipper Shreyas Iyer, despite costing a hefty sum, paid off with their performances.
There is another aspect of this high-price trade, that of uncapped players. Each auction, there is an uncapped player who impresses at the domestic levels and at team camps. Multiple teams bid for them, and just like them, they become crorepatis.
Success stories for high-priced uncapped players include. In 2015, the then Delhi Daredevils bought a young Shreyas Iyer for Rs 2.6 crore. He would score over 400 runs that season and would go on to become the franchise captain.
Players like Venkatesh Iyer and Krunal Pandya earned over 8 crores in their first season, and went on to become effective players in the league, while Avesh Khan got 10 crores in his debut season with the Lucknow Super Giants, and has become a regular for the Indian Cricket Team.
Final Thoughts
The fate of the highest price players in IPL auction is hard to predict. The pressures that come with such a price tag can have some effect on a player. There is also no agreed-upon standard as to how well a player needs to perform in order to justify their price tag.
A player worth Rs. 20 crore or higher, do they need to consistently be the best player of their team, or do they need to win 2-3 games for their side? The verdict following the IPL auction.
There is another aspect of why some players are paid high prices in an auction, and that is their performance in ICC tournaments. Sam Curran was named the Player of the Tournament of the 2022 T20 World Cup and became part of the legacy of the most expensive player in IPL history the very next year. Similar things happened with Chris Morris in 2021 and Rishabh Pant in 2024.
With a detailed look at the past, we must now look at the future. In the IPL 2026 auction, Cameron Green became the highest bid overseas player in league history, as KKR will pay a whopping Rs. 25.50 crore for the Aussie. The question now is, how long will the current highest bid records stand for?
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