10 Most Expensive Players In IPL History: The Indian Premier League (IPL) changed the ecosystem of global cricket when it came into existence in 2008. From bringing the kind of professionalism to cricket that is seen in other sports around the world to bringing unheard-of amounts of money to the game.
Since IPL has become a phenomenon in world cricket, being a professional cricketer has become a viable option for youth in India. And if there is life-changing money for new and young cricketers in this league, imagine the amount of money the biggest players in the world make.
Well, we don’t need to imagine that, as before each season of the IPL, an auction is held, where teams buy players for a certain price. Over the past decade, this auction has become an event that fans look forward to. As the franchises create their squads for the coming season, the world gets to see how each team is taking shape.
With an auction model, it is natural that some players end up getting paid more than others. And the amount of money players get on average seems to be rising on a yearly basis. This can be known by the fact that all of the 10 most expensive players in IPL history are from the past three years.
Today, we will look at the 10 most expensive players in IPL history. How much were these players paid for a season, and what did they end up doing in the season in which they were that expensive? Mind you, this list does not include retained players. But even if it did, none of them would have breached the top four.
10 Most Expensive Players In IPL History
10) Ben Stokes – IPL 2023 (Chennai Super Kings)
Chennai Super Kings played a gamble on England Test captain and all-rounder Ben Stokes in 2023. Having previously been a star for the Rajasthan Royals, Stokes had been struggling with injuries at the time. Still, CSK paid the Englishman Rs. 16.25 Crore for IPL 2023. That season, Stokes played only two games, scoring 15 runs and bowling just one over for 18 runs before going out with an injury and did not play the next season. Despite that, the Super Kings won that IPL season. But he remains one of the costliest IPL players ever.
9) Cameron Green – IPL 2023 (Mumbai Indians)
In the same auction where Chennai bought Stokes, arch-rivals Mumbai Indians went the other way and big on the upcoming Australian all-rounder Cameron Green, who had never played in the IPL, paying the youngster Rs. 17.50 Crore. That season, the tall Aussie played a big role in MI’s road to the playoffs, as he scored 452 runs in 16 games at an average of over 50 and a strike rate of over 160. Green even took six wickets that season. However, for the 2024 season, he was traded to the Royal Challengers Bengaluru.
8) Yuzvendra Chahal – IPL 2025 (Punjab Kings)
Yuzvendra Chahal is the most successful bowler in IPL history. In 160 games in the league, he has 205 wickets, the only bowler past 200 wickets in the tournament. In his last three seasons for the Rajasthan Royals, he took 66 wickets in 46 matches and even won the Purple Cap in 2022. It now remains to be seen how he performs in the red for the Punjab Kings, as he was bought for Rs. 18 Crores in the recent auction. Making him not only among the costliest IPL players ever but also the most expensive spinner in league history
7) Arshdeep Singh – IPL 2025 (Punjab Kings)
The Punjab Kings could have retained Arshdeep Singh ahead of the IPL 2025 auction, and they would have had to pay him the same amount that they bid for him in the auction, Rs. 18 Crore. He has been one of the few bright spots in an otherwise dismal decade for the Kings. Having only played for Punjab in the IPL, he has taken 76 wickets in 64 matches for them and has emerged as India’s premier T20 pace bowler.
Check Out: 10 Cosliest IPL Players In IPL History
6) Sam Curran – IPL 2023 (Punjab Kings)
This is the zenith of the Punjab Kings’ habit of paying big for diminishing returns. After he was the Player of the Tournament for the 2022 T20 World Cup for England, Sam Curran was bought for a whopping Rs. 18.50 Crore in the IPL 2023 auction, making him the most expensive player in league history back then. While Curran has been a part of the franchise’s core for the past two seasons, captaining it in the absence of Shikhar Dhawan, he could not take the team past the bottom half of the table, scoring 546 runs and taking 26 wickets in the two seasons.
5) Pat Cummins – IPL 2024 (Sunrisers Hyderabad)
As the 2023 ODI World Cup and World Test Championship-winning captain for Australia, the Sunrisers Hyderabad picked Pat Cummins as their captain in the IPL 2024 auction, paying Rs. 20.50 Crore for him. This made him the most expensive IPL player for about 10 minutes before another Aussie pacer broke his record. While he scored only 136 runs and took 18 wickets in 16 matches at a 9+ economy, Cummins captained a revolutionary SRH side to the final of IPL 2024. Now, the Sunrisers have retained him for the 2025 season.
4) Venkatesh Iyer – IPL 2025 (Kolkata Knight Riders)
Venkatesh Iyer is the most surprising inclusion in this list, not because he is an inferior player or anything like that, but because he was not expected to go for this much ahead of the IPL 2025 auction. Venky Iyer has been absolutely brilliant for KKR since joining the side as an uncapped player in 2021. In the two seasons, he has played a crucial role in taking the team to a final and then winning the title in 2024. In 50 matches for KKR in four seasons, he has scored 1326 runs. In 2024, he scored 370 runs in 14 games with an average of 46.25 and a strike rate of 158.80. But as the team was not able to retain him, they bought him back in the auction for Rs. 23.75 crore, making him one of the costliest IPL players ever.
3) Mitchell Starc – IPL 2024 (Kolkata Knight Riders)
Minutes after Pat Cummins became the most expensive player in IPL history in the 2024 auction, Mitchell Starc came to the docket and broke that record with room to spare. The Kolkata Knight Riders bought him for Rs. 24.75 Crore. While Starc did not have the best season, taking 17 wickets in 14 games at an economy of over 10.6, he was the Player of the Match for the final, bowling with figures of 2/14 in three overs and restricting a dangerous SRH side to just 113.
Check Out: 10 Most Expensive Players In IPL History
2) Shreyas Iyer – IPL 2025 (Punjab Kings)
This tells you how much teams value a good captain. Shreyas Iyer has not had the best year as a player. He has lost his place in the national team across formats and was underwhelming with the bat in IPL 2024, scoring 351 runs in 14 games. But because he captained the Kolkata Knight Riders to the title in 2024, he briefly became the most expensive player in IPL history when the Punjab Kings picked him up for a staggering Rs. 26.75 Crore.
1) Rishabh Pant – IPL 2025 (Lucknow Super Giants)
Soon after Venkatesh Oyer became the most expensive IPL player, Rishabh Pant came and shattered that record. Having been released by the Delhi Capitals, the star keeper was “sold to the Lucknow Super Giants for Rs. 20.75 Crores. Then, the Capitals used an RTM card on him. LSG then came back with a raised value of Rs. 27 Crores and was able to secure Pant for that price. Rishabh Pant has been the greatest player in the history of the Delhi Capitals. He played for that franchise for eight seasons and scored 3284 runs in 11 games for them. In 2024, he scored 446 runs in 13 games with a 40+ average and a strike rate of over 155.
Check Out: 10 Most Expensive Players In IPL History
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