Cameron Green becomes most expensive overseas player; uncapped Indians go big

Australian allrounder Cameron Green has been bought by Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) for INR 25.20 crore ($2.8 million approx.), making him the third-most expensive player sold at an IPL auction, and the most expensive overseas player ever.

KKR also bought the second-most expensive player at the IPL 2026 auction - Sri Lankan fast bowler Matheesha Pathirana for INR 18 crore ($1.97 million approx.).

The limelight on auction day, however, was stolen by the uncapped Indian players, with 20-year-old left-arm spin allrounder Prashant Veer and 19-year-old wicketkeeper Kartik Sharma going to Chennai Super Kings (CSK) for a staggering INR 14.2 crore each. both of them broke Avesh Khan's record in 2022 of INR 10 crore for the most expensive uncapped Indian player bought at an IPL auction. Jammu and Kashmir fast bowler Auqib Nabi also had a big payday, with Delhi Capitals buying him for INR 8.4 crore.

KKR, who began the auction with the largest purse of INR 64.3 crore, had to stave off competition for Green from CSK, who had the second-highest purse of INR 43.4 crore. The bidding, though, began with Mumbai Indians (MI), who had to drop out of the race quickly because they had a purse of only INR 2.75 crore. Rajasthan Royals (RR), who had a purse of INR 16.05 crore, took the bid as far as INR 13.40 crore before exiting, at which point CSK joined the bidding against KKR.

Green's bid took more than ten minutes to complete, and he ranks behind Rishabh Pant (INR 27 crore) and Shreyas Iyer (INR 26.75 crore) on the list of most expensive IPL players. The most expensive overseas players before Green were Mitchell Starc (INR 24.75 crore) and Pat Cummins (INR 20.50 crore). Green, however, will get only INR 18 crore due to a maximum salary cap imposed by the IPL on overseas players at mini-auctions. The bid amount in excess of INR 18 crore (INR 7.2 crore) will go to the BCCI for player welfare.

Green first played the IPL in 2023, when MI bought him for INR 17.5 crore. He scored 452 runs at a strike rate of 160.28, and picked up six wickets. MI then traded Green to RCB a year later for the same price. He scored 255 runs for RCB at a strike rate of 143.25, and took ten wickets. Green did not register for the mega auction ahead of IPL 2025 because he was returning from a back injury.

Green was one of only two players sold from the first set of batters on Tuesday, along with South Africa batter David Miller, who went to Delhi Capitals (DC) at his base price of INR 2 crore. Jake-Fraser McGurk, Prithvi Shaw, Devon Conway and Sarfaraz Khan were unsold.

The lukewarm bidding continued into the second set of allrounders, with only two of seven players sold. Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) bought Sri Lanka's Wanindu Hasaranga at his base price of INR 2 crore. Venkatesh Iyer, who had been bought by KKR for INR 23.75 crore in the IPL 2025 auction, was sold to Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) for INR 7 crore. Liam Livingstone, Rachin Ravindra, Gus Atkinson, Wiaan Mulder and Deepak Hooda were unsold in the first set of allrounders.

There was more action in the first set of wicketkeepers, with MI buying South Africa's Quinton de Kock, DC buying England's Ben Duckett, and KKR buying New Zealand's Finn Allen - all at their base prices. CSK, who began the auction with the second-largest purse, did not buy a player from the first three sets.

CSK did not bid for Pathirana, who they had released at a price of INR 13 crore after IPL 2025. The demand for Pathirana began with DC and LSG, and once the bid reached INR 15.6 crore, DC dropped out considering they had a purse of INR 17.8 crore. KKR entered the bidding and priced out LSG, who had a purse of INR 20.95 crore, at INR 18 crore. Having missed out on Pathirana, LSG immediately bought South African quick Anrich Nortje at his base price of INR 2 crore.

RCB's second buy at the auction was New Zealand fast bowler Jacob Duffy (INR 2 crore), who could slot in as back-up for Josh Hazlewood.

CSK did bid for legspinner Ravi Bishnoi, but stopped once the price reached INR 6 crore. RR and SRH then bid for Bishnoi, and he was eventually bought by RR for INR 7.2 crore. Akeal Hosein, the West Indies left-arm spinner, was eventually CSK's first buy at the auction at his base price of INR 2 crore before their aggressive bidding for the uncapped Indians later in the auction.

"It's a little bit about discipline, we had earmarked those players as being key spots for us so we had to wait," CSK coach Stephen fleming said. "And it's very difficult because you see a lot of good players beforehand going at low prices but you have to stick to your plan and in our case we knew we probably had to spend a little bit of money at the back end. But it's hard; you sit and watch these good players who could come into your side and make a real difference and when others pick them up you are a little bit jealous. But there's a discipline to it that's really important, if you believe in the plan. Otherwise you find yourself in a real mess because it's like an ice cream store, you're gonna have a scoop of each and you end up a little bit fatter than what you should be."

From the first ten sets of players, only 25 out of 70 were bought, with Punjab Kings not yet having bid for any player.

KKR: Cameron Green, Finn Allen, Matheesha Pathirana, Tejasvi Dahiya, Kartik Tyagi, Prashant Solanki, Rahul Tripathi, Tim Seifert
LSG: Wanindu Hasaranga, Anrich Nortje, Mukul Choudhary, Naman Tiwari
DC: David Miller, Ben Duckett, Auqib Nabi, Pathum Nissanka
RCB: Venkatesh Iyer, Jacob Duffy
MI: Quinton de Kock
RR: Ravi Bishnoi, Sushant Mishra, Yash Raj Punja, Vignesh Puthur
CSK: Akeal Hosein, Kartik Sharma, Prashant Veer, Matthew Short
GT: Ashok Sharma, Jason Holder
SRH: Shivang Kumar
PBKS:

More to follow...