Kochi, Dec 24: The Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 Players Auction shattered several records and sprang up various surprises as a total of 80 players were picked up by the ten franchises on Friday (December 23) in the most lucrative T20 leagues.
With a total of 405 players going under the hammer, and a maximum of 87 slots up for grabs, the IPL Auction 2023 was supposed to be a mini-auction but it ended up setting up new benchmarks as a total of Rs 167 crore were spent by all ten teams.
A host of England cricketers were the subject of interest in the auction, but it was their T20 World Cup hero, Sam Curran, who attracted a record-breaking bid of Rs 18.50 crore. The young England all-rounder's name witnessed an intense bidding war between his previous franchises i.e. Punjab Kings and Chennai Super Kings. But it was the former who snapped him after splurging a whopping amount.
Curran, thus, became the most expensive player in the IPL Auction history. He surpassed the previous record set by South African all-rounder Chris Morris - who became the most expensive player in IPL history in the 2021 auction. Morris was purchased by Rajasthan Royals for Rs 16.25 crore.
Australia all-rounder Cameron Green became the second-highest earner in the IPL history after fetching a bid of Rs 17.5 crore from Mumbai Indians. Green was on the radar of the IPL talent scouts, as well as the franchises, following his performance in T20Is in India and later in T20 World Cup 2022. The right-handed batter and right-arm pacer from Western Australia was tipped to be one of the top buys going into the auction.
Having missed out on Sam Curran and Harry Brook, Chennai Super Kings came all guns blazing when England all-rounder's name came up for auction. Stokes - who has in the past played with MS Dhoni in the IPL when the two were part of Rising Pune Supergiants (now defunct) - looked on the franchise's priority list as CSK splurged a whopping Rs 16.25 crore on him. Stokes thus became the third-most-expensive player in the history of the IPL auction and equalled Chris Morris. In Stokes, CSK seems to have found a future captaincy option when Dhoni bids adieu to the game.
Lucknow Super Giants surprised all when they placed a humongous bid of Rs 16 crore to bring former West Indies captain Nicholas Pooran into their fold. The left-handed wicketkeeper-batter, thus, became the fourth player to break the 16-crore barrier. It was the first instance when four players attracted a bid in excess of Rs 16 crore in one auction.
Young England all-rounder Harry Brook was the first player in the 2023 IPL auction to surpass the Rs 10 crore mark. Brook - who was only the second player to appear in the auction - attracted a bid of Rs 13.25 crore from Sunrisers Hyderabad after an intense bidding war between SRH and Royals.
Mayank Agarwal - who was released by Punjab Kings ahead of the IPL auction - emerged as the most expensive Indian player after SRH bought him for Rs 8.25 crore. The right-handed batter, who was appointed PBKS skipper, had an ordinary show in the IPL 2022 season. However, his experience and past performances propelled the franchises to go after him.
Shivam Mavi became the most expensive uncapped Indian player in the IPL 2023 auction. Gujarat Titans shelled out a whopping Rs 6 crore bid to buy the services of the young Uttar Pradesh pacer whose base price was Rs 20 lakhs.
Uncapped India cricketer Vivrant Sharma was the latest IPL millionaire after the Jammu and Kashmir cricketer earned a Rs 2.6 crore pay cheque to don the SRH jersey in the 2023 edition.
# Kane Williamson was sold to Gujarat Titans at his base price of Rs 2 crore
# Kyle Jamieson - who was bought for Rs 15 crore in IPL 2021 by RCB - was purchased by CSK for Rs 1 crore
# Ajinkya Rahane was bought by CSK for Rs 50 lakh.
# Ishant Sharma - who went unsold in the previous two seasons - will once again play for his previous franchise i.e. Delhi Capitals after getting purchased for Rs 50 lakh.
# Joe Root - who was unable to find any takers in the previous editions - will now make his debut in the IPL after Rajasthan Royals fetched his services for Rs 1 crore.
# Joshua Little (GT) and David Weise (KKR) were the only 2 players from Associate Nations who were sold
MI: Players Bought: 8; Money Spent: Rs. 20.3 Crore; Purse Remaining: Rs 0.25 Crore
MI Updated Squad: Here
RCB: Players Bought: 7; Money Spent: Rs. 7 Crore; Purse Remaining: Rs 1.75 Crore
RCB Updated Squad: Here
KKR: Players Bought: 8; Money Spent: Rs. 2.9 Crore; Purse Remaining: Rs 4.15 Crore
KKR Updated Squad: Here
GT: Players Bought: 7; Money Spent: Rs. 14.8 Crore; Purse Remaining: Rs 4.45 Crore
GT Updated Squad: Here
LSG: Players Bought: 10; Money Spent: Rs. 19.1 Crore; Purse Remaining: Rs. 4.25 Crore
LSG Updated Squad: Here
RR: Players Bought: 9; Money Spent: Rs. 6.45 Crore; Purse Remaining: Rs 6.75 Crore
RR Updated Squad: Here
SRH: Players Bought: 13; Money Spent: Rs. 34.5 Crore; Purse Remaining: Rs 7.75 Crore
SRH Updated Squad: Here
DC: Players Bought: 5; Money Spent: Rs. 10.4 Crore; Purse Remaining: Rs 9.05 Crore
DC Updated Squad: Here
PBKS: Players Bought: 6; Money Spent: Rs. 18 Crore; Purse Remaining: Rs 12.2 Crore
PBKS Updated Squad: Here
CSK: Players Bought: 7; Money Spent: Rs 93.50 Crore; Purse Remaining: Rs 1.50 Crore
CSK Updates Squad: Here