The Indian Premier League (IPL) has turned out to be Cricket’s richest league. Almost every player in the world wishes to be a part of the league, as it offers a lot of money to be a part of 3-4 months of the year. A huge contract or even a fairly good contract can change the lives of individuals. Many cricketers earn millions of dollars every year through the IPL contract.
With each passing year, the costliest player in the league tends to get more money. While many of them were bought in the mini auctions, others were bought in the mega auctions. Not all of them were easily available for grabs, as the franchises had to take a huge risk to get them on board. Some of the players became a part of their team after a crazy bidding war between multiple franchises in the auctions.
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Here are the five craziest bidding wars in IPL history:
5. Mitchell Starc in the IPL Auctions 2024
Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins scripted history during the IPL auctions, as they became the first players to cross over INR 20 crores and INR 21+ crores in the IPL auctions, respectively. While Cummins was bought by SRH for INR 20.50 crores, Starc surpassed his Australian skipper by becoming the most expensive player of the IPL 2024.
Mumbai Indians and Delhi Capitals wanted him till INR 10 crores and opted out beyond that tag. KKR and Gujarat Titans were ready to throw all of their purse to get the left-arm pacer. In the end, Kolkata were more adamant to buy Starc, as they pipped GT to buy the Australian pacer for a whopping INR 24.75 crores, the highest for an overseas player to date.
4. Yuvraj Singh in the IPL Auctions 2014
Yuvraj Singh’s buy at the IPL Auction 2014 was rather controversial, as there was not just a bidding war between RCB and KKR, but a legal war. When RCB wished to buy Yuvraj for a price of INR 10 crores, KKR raised a complaint claiming one of their bids went unnoticed by the auctioneer. RCB protested and did not want KKR to interfere in the bid.
However, they were forced to continue the bidding war, which went till INR 14 crores, the highest for a player at the time. Vijay Mallya and Co. were frustrated and officially complained to the IPL Governing Council. Yuvraj turned out to be good for RCB, as he batted well throughout the season and bowled a great spell in the match against Rajasthan Royals.
3. Rishabh Pant in the IPL Auctions 2025
Rishabh Pant became the most expensive player in IPL history, thanks to Lucknow Super Giants’ heavy overpricing to avoid Delhi Capitals from using the Right-to-Match card to buy the star player back. Rishabh was bound to go expensive due to multiple skill sets. RCB and SRH had an intense bidding war to gain the services of the star player.
At a point, RCB stopped, which allowed LSG to enter the fray. The Lucknow-based franchise was ready to pay INR 20.75 crores when SRH opted out. As DC wished to use their RTM Card on Pant, the auctioneer asked the final price LSG could offer to Pant. LSG was ready to give a whopping sum of INR 27 crores, and hence Pant found a new home.
2. Kieron Pollard in the IPL Auctions 2010
Kieron Pollard in the IPL Auctions 2010 was in huge demand. After failing to get a bid in the previous season, the West Indian All-Rounder was sought after by 4 teams – MI, RCB, KKR, and CSK. In the IPL Auctions 2010, the highest allowed price to buy a player was $750000. All 4 teams were ready to pay that amount to get Pollard on board.
Pollard’s fate was decided in a secret tie-break, in which MI bought him for an undisclosed amount. To date, Kieron’s actual worth in the IPL 2010 is not known to many. As it turned out, Pollard proved himself worthy to be every penny, as he played a key role in all of MI’s 5 title wins, especially in three of their five finals.
1. MS Dhoni in the IPL Auctions 2008
MS Dhoni was easily the player with the highest demand in the IPL Auction 2008. Not only was he a fairly young player back in time, but he was also into the T20 mindset of players. As an Indian Captain who won the T20 World Cup a few months ago, he was bound to be highly expensive. Richard Medley, who was the auctioneer, remembers Dhoni’s auction fondly to date.
In many interviews, he claimed all eight teams bid for the former Indian skipper. When Dhoni’s bid crossed the mark of $900000, only MI and CSK were interested. MI was ready to pay 1.5 million but realized they had to give the most expensive player 10 percent more than the icon player (Sachin Tendulkar), which would mean the end of their purse. Hence, CSK calculatively got Dhoni, as they did not have any icon player.
