Rishabh Pant pips Shreyas Iyer to become costliest IPL player

Just minutes apart from each other, Shreyas Iyer and then Rishabh Pant became the two biggest purchases in IPL history during day one of the mega player auction in Jeddah, where a total of Rs 467.95 crore was splurged on 72 cricketers. 

Iyer, who captained Kolkata Knight Riders to the IPL title this year, was secured by Punjab Kings (PBKS) for a then-record Rs 26.75 crore, before Pant went to Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) for Rs 27 crore, thus becoming the most expensive player in IPL history. These two marquee names headlined a manic first hour of bidding in Saudi Arabia, during which PBKS paid Rs 18 crore apiece to buy back left-arm pacer Arshdeep Singh va a Right to Match (RTM) card and add the veteran legspinner Yuzvendra Chahal, while Gujarat Titans bid Rs 17.75 for England’s white-ball captain, Jos Buttler. 

Later on Sunday, India allrounder Venkatesh Iyer came close to Shreyas and Pant when he was purchased for Rs 23.75 by KKR, for whom he has played all his IPL career. 

Pant, who until this year played all his IPL matches for Delhi Daredevils who were rechristened Delhi Capitals (DC), joins an LSG squad featuring the retained Nicholas Pooran and Ravi Bishnoi and new purchases in Avesh Khan (9.75 crore), David Miller (7.5 crore), Mitchell Marsh (3.20 crore) and Aiden Markram (2 crore). Shreyas is shaping as the new captain of an almost totally revamped PBKS squad, which now sees Chahal, Marcus Stoinis (11 crore) and Glenn Maxwell (4.20 crore) as part of some big names added. 

Other major acquisitions yesterday included KL Rahul to DC for Rs 14 crore and the pace trio of Jofra Archer, Trent Boult and Josh Hazlewood for Rs 12.50 crore each. Archer went back to the franchise he started his IPL career with, Rajasthan Royals (RR), Boult went back to Mumbai Indians (MI) after two seasons with RR, and Hazlewood marked his comeback to the IPL after a year when Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) bought him back (he was with them for the 2022 and 2023 seasons). 

Mohammed Siraj was another big winner after winning a bid of Rs 12.25 from GT, who also shaped their pace attack by acquiring Kagiso Rabada for Rs 10.75 and Prasidh Krishna for Rs 9.50 crore. 

Interestingly, Mitchell Starc, who last year had broken the bank for the most expensive IPL player at Rs 24.75 crore, was purchased for less than half of that by DC who won him services at Rs 11.75 crore. His new franchise also spent on left-arm pacer T Natajaran (10.75), Jake Fraser-McGurk (9 crore via RTM) and Harry Brook (6.25 crore). 

Another vital player to KKR’s IPL title success this year, Phil Salt, found a new home with RCB after they forked out Rs 11.75 crore for his services. Salt joins fellow England team-mate Liam Livingstone (8.75 crore) at the Bengaluru-based franchise and is their second wicketkeeper alongside Jitesh Sharma who was snapped up for Rs 11 crore. 

Sunrisers Hyderabad, losing finalists earlier this year, added Ishan Kishan for Rs 11.25 crore, Mohammed Shami for Rs 10 crore and Harshal Patel for Rs 8 crore. Chennai Super Kings purchased R Ashwin for Rs 9.75 crore and Noor Ahmad for Rs 10 crore, while buying back the New Zealand pair of Devon Conway (6.25 crore) and Rachin Ravindra (4 crore, via RTM). 

The Sri Lankan spin pair of Wanindu Hasaranga (5.25 crore) and Maheesh Theekshana (4.40 crore) went to RR. 

Among the players to go unsold were David Warner, Jonny Bairstow, Devdutt Padikkal each of whom had set their base prices at Rs 2 crore.