IPL 2026 auction – From Mitchell Starc to Chris Morris, the most expensive buys at mini-auctions
IPL mini-auctions bring with them a new set of dynamics every year: each team has different gaps to fill and varying purses with which to do so. When budgets match and interests clash, it can lead to bidding wars for certain players. With the IPL 2026 auction on December 16, here’s a look at the six most expensive buys at previous mini-auctions.
A tall, fearsome fast bowler who can unleash yorkers and bowl rapidly at any phase of the innings. Before 2024, Starc had last played in the IPL in 2015, for RCB. When he returned, the purses flew open.
Kolkata Knight Riders – on the lookout for an experienced international to complement their battery of young, Indian quicks – edged out Delhi Capitals, Mumbai Indians and Gujarat Titans to buy Starc for 24.75 crore: 75.69% of their auction purse. At the time, he was the most expensive player ever bought at an IPL auction.
Starc went at an economy of 10.61 during the season, but KKR backed him to come good. He showed his value in the playoffs: his 3 for 34 knocked Sunrisers Hyderabad off their feet in Qualifier 1, before blitzing them out in the final once again with 2 for 14 to give KKR their third IPL title.
For a few minutes before the Starc bid, Cummins became the first player in the history of IPL auctions to breach the INR 20-crore mark. His captaincy, bowling skills and lower-order batting exploits, which included a 14-ball fifty against Mumbai Indians in 2022, made him a compelling package.
MI, Chennai Super Kings, RCB and SRH propelled his price past the ten-crore mark. RCB and SRH kept going even as the bid threatened to empty out most of their purse. Eventually, RCB relented, and SRH got their man.
While Cummins’ returns in IPL 2024 season were expensive – he took 18 wickets at an economy of 9.27 – his biggest contribution to the team was priceless. Under his captaincy, SRH finished as runners-up in their first final appearance since 2016.
Punjab Kings broke the bank for Sam Curran in before IPL 2023•AFP/Getty Images
Curran’s left-arm seam bowling and lower-order hitting make him the perfect utility player to have at a T20 franchise. He had just won the Player-of-the-Tournament award at the 2022 T20 World Cup, and carried an impressive resume from his time at CSK, where at times he opened both the bowling and the batting.
MI and RR started the bidding, CSK joined at 11.75 crore, Punjab Kings at 15.25 crore, and eventually, LSG at 15.75 crore. PBKS eventually emerged victorious after a five-way bidding war.
Curran had middling returns with the ball in IPL 2023, averaging 48.90, but fared better with the bat, scoring 276 runs at a strike rate of 135.96. PBKS kept him in the squad for another season, where he did better with the ball – 16 wickets at 26 – and even captained the side.
Which team will acquire Cameron Green this time?•AFP/Getty Images
At the same auction, another allrounder was in high demand – Green, an extremely tall Australian who had been fast-tracked to the international circuit by the time the auction came up.
Having released Hardik Pandya before IPL 2022, MI bid fiercely for Green. RCB, too, kept raising their paddle until the price ballooned to INR 7 crore. DC entered to more than double his price by the time MI bought him as their most expensive player at an auction.
Green had a bumper season, scoring 452 runs at an average of 50.22 and a strike rate of 160.28 – including a century in a chase of 201 against SRH – and helped MI make the playoffs.
Ben Stokes hardly played for CSK in 2023•Getty Images
The England allrounder entered the auction with past stints at Rising Pune Supergiant and Rajasthan Royals, including a scintillating century for RPS in 2017. Stokes was a potential captain for franchises in need of a new one. So it was no surprise when RCB, RR, LSG and SRH all entered a bidding war. CSK stepped in at the last moment – when the bid had reached 15.25 crores – and snapped him up.
Any lofty ambitions they might have had with Stokes, however, slipped away once his left-knee problems flared up. He played just two games in the season – scored 15 runs, bowled one over – and has not played in the IPL since.
Chris Morris could not justify his auction price•BCCI/IPL
Morris is the perfect prototype of the overseas IPL player: a tall allrounder who can bowl above 140kph and make quick runs in the lower-order.
RCB, having released the South African allrounder ahead of the auction, initially battled for him with MI, before RR joined the bidding. RR’s last raise of the paddle won Morris a scarcely believable payday, becoming the most expensive IPL buy at the time.
In 11 matches that season, he took 15 wickets, but it came at an economy of 9.17. His batting failed to take-off except for one innings of 36 not out, and he averaged 13.40 with a strike rate of 136.73 – numbers which paled in comparison to the peaks of his past. IPL 2021 ended up being his final season in the competition.
Abhijato Sensarma is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo
