The IPL 2022 mega auction is not far away. The eight existing franchises have announced their retentions while the two new ones – Lucknow and Ahmedabad – will soon finalize their top three picks each.
That will set the ball rolling for all the teams to look out for the remaining pool of players, mark out the ones that they want to bid for, mark out their backups and the backups of those.
In form and big-name players – in particular from Australia and the West Indies – would expect a huge payday. At the sound of the gavel hitting, several players have become multi-fold richer, more famous, and of course come into the competition with expectations – from fans and franchise owners alike.
So, which cricketers have been the most expensive auction picks each season?
2008- MS Dhoni, 9.5 crore
Chennai Super Kings bought the then India captain, MS Dhoni, for 9.5 crore. Dhoni has led the Yellow Army to 4 IPL titles since, and is gearing up for perhaps his final hurry in the league.
2009- Kevin Pietersen, Andrew Flintoff, 9.8 crore
Two big English players, Kevin Pietersen and Andrew Flintoff, were bought by RCB and CSK respectively for a handsome amount of 9.8 crore. Pietersen flattered to deceive scoring 93 runs in 6 matches, so did Flintoff, managing 62 runs in 3 games with 2 wickets.
2010-Shane Bond, Kieron Pollard, 4.8 crore
KKR roped in New Zealand quick Shane Bond and Mumbai Indians gained the services of big West Indian Kieron Pollard – both for 4.8 crore each. Bond picked 9 wickets in 8 games for another disappointing KKR campaign. However, Pollard helped Mumbai storm in their maiden IPL final.
Pollard has been retained by MI again and continues to be one of the most fearsome batters in the world.
2011-Gautam Gambhir, 14.9 crore
After a poor start in the early seasons, KKR shelled out a whopping 14.9 crore for senior India batsman Gautam Gambhir and put him at the helm. Gambhir delivered KKR’s only two titles, in 2012 and 2014, to justify the franchise’s faith in him.
2012-Ravindra Jadeja, 12.8 crore
Ravindra Jadeja was an emerging cricketer at that time and had achieved a fair bit of success in India colours before he was snapped up by CSK for a huge amount of 12.8 crore.
Jadeja has won two IPL titles with CSK; the left-handed all-rounder has featured in 132 matches for CSK, and will add to this tally in the coming as he’s been retained by the franchise as the first choice.
2013-Glenn Maxwell, 6.3 crore
Mumbai Indians saw value in the all-rounder skills of Glenn Maxwell and spent 6.3 crore on him. However, the Aussie remained unused for most of the season, featuring in just 3 games, and was released.
He did, however, join Punjab the next season and took them to the final. Maxwell has been enjoying heavy paydays at the auction since.
2014-Yuvraj Singh, 14 crore
India’s greatest all-rounder of the past two decades, Yuvraj Singh bagged a deal of 14 crore in the 2014 auction from RCB. He scored 376 runs and picked 5 wickets that season before being sent back in the auction pool again.
2015-Yuvraj Singh, 16 crore
Despite being away from the national side, Yuvraj’s stocks didn’t take a hit as Delhi Daredevils broke the bank for him, splurging 16 crore on the southpaw. Yuvraj, however, had an underwhelming season, scoring 276 runs at a strike rate of 118.
2016-Shane Watson, 9.5 crore
In hope of winning their maiden title, RCB spent big on Shane Watson. 9.5 crore were slashed by RCB for the Australian all-rounder, who although disappointed with the bat, averaging just 13, picked up 20 wickets in RCB’s run to the final, where they lost to SRH.
2017-Ben Stokes, 14.5 crore
Superstar England all-rounder was clearly a hot commodity, which forced new team Rising Pune Supergiant to take out 14.5 crore from their pocket. Stokes lived up to his price and delivered a magnificent season – 316 runs at 31 and 12 wickets the ball – to take RPS till the final, where his unavailability hurt the team as they lost to Mumbai Indians.
2018-Ben Stokes, 12.5 crore
Expectedly, following his blockbuster season, Stokes was going to fetch big bids again. Rajasthan Royals, coming back from a 2-year ban, bagged Stokes for 12.5 crore. However, this time, the burly England all-rounder couldn’t live up to the expectations and had an under-par season – 196 runs along with 8 wickets.
2019-Jaydev Unadkat, Varun Chakravarthy, 8.4 crore
8.4 crore of amount was splurged by Rajasthan and Punjab for pacer Jaydev Unadkat and mystery spinner Varun Chakravarthy, respectively. Both of them, however, didn’t set the season on fire with the ball. Unadkar picked 10 wickets in 11 matches while Chakravarthy played in just one game, picking a solitary wicket.
2020-Pat Cummins, 15.5 crore
KKR targeted Pat Cummins as the bowling all-rounder and spent a large sum of 15.5 crore on the Aussie. Cummins had an average season, where he managed 12 wickets with the ball and 146 runs with the bat.
2021-Chris Morris, 16.25 crore
Chris Morris became the most expensive IPL auction pick ever when the Royals shelled out 16.25 crore for the South African all-rounder last year. Morris featured in 11 matches, wherein he averaged only 13 with the bat, but was impressive with the ball, nipping out 15 wickets.
