Quick Answer: Who Was the Most Expensive Player in IPL 2026 Auction?
Australia all-rounder Cameron Green was the most expensive player in the IPL 2026 auction, bought by Kolkata Knight Riders for ₹25.20 crore.
That price also made him the most expensive overseas player in IPL history, beating Mitchell Starc’s ₹24.75 crore record from IPL 2024.
Top 10 Most Expensive Players in IPL 2026 Auction
|
Rank |
Player |
Team |
Base Price |
Winning Bid |
Capped / Uncapped |
|
1 |
Cameron Green |
Kolkata Knight Riders |
₹2 crore |
₹25.20 crore |
Capped |
|
2 |
Matheesha Pathirana |
Kolkata Knight Riders |
₹2 crore |
₹18 crore |
Capped |
|
3 |
Kartik Sharma |
Chennai Super Kings |
₹30 lakh |
₹14.20 crore |
Uncapped |
|
3 |
Prashant Veer |
Chennai Super Kings |
₹30 lakh |
₹14.20 crore |
Uncapped |
|
5 |
Liam Livingstone |
Sunrisers Hyderabad |
₹2 crore |
₹13 crore |
Capped |
|
6 |
Mustafizur Rahman |
Kolkata Knight Riders |
₹2 crore |
₹9.20 crore |
Capped |
|
7 |
Josh Inglis |
Lucknow Super Giants |
₹2 crore |
₹8.60 crore |
Capped |
|
8 |
Auqib Dar |
Delhi Capitals |
₹30 lakh |
₹8.40 crore |
Uncapped |
|
9 |
Ravi Bishnoi |
Rajasthan Royals |
₹2 crore |
₹7.20 crore |
Capped |
|
10 |
Jason Holder |
Gujarat Titans |
₹2 crore |
₹7 crore |
Capped |
Player-by-Player Breakdown of the IPL 2026 Auction Top Buys
1. Cameron Green — ₹25.20 crore, Kolkata Knight Riders
- Cameron Green is the headline name of the IPL 2026 auction and the most expensive overseas signing in IPL history.
- KKR walked in with the largest purse of ₹64.3 crore and used it to win a long bidding war. CSK joined the bidding against KKR after Rajasthan Royals exited at ₹13.40 crore, and the bid took more than ten minutes to close.
- Why so much? Green is a true all-rounder — a top/middle-order batter who can also bowl genuine seam-up. That’s rare and expensive. The risk: his back has been an issue, and he missed the 2025 edition with a back injury.
- One detail to know: Green’s contract is capped at ₹18 crore due to a new IPL salary cap on overseas players at mini-auctions. The amount above the cap goes to the BCCI’s player welfare fund.
2. Matheesha Pathirana — ₹18 crore, Kolkata Knight Riders
- KKR doubled down on overseas firepower with the Sri Lankan death-overs specialist.
- The bidding here was wild. Demand began with DC and LSG. Once the bid reached ₹15.6 crore, DC dropped out. KKR entered and priced out LSG at ₹18 crore. Interestingly, CSK did not bid for Pathirana, who they had released at a price of ₹13 crore after IPL 2025.
- Pathirana’s slingy action, raw pace, and yorkers make him one of the best death bowlers in T20 cricket. For KKR, who already had Cameron Green, this was a clear “win the back end of the innings” move.
3. Kartik Sharma — ₹14.20 crore, Chennai Super Kings
- The 19-year-old wicketkeeper-batter from Chennai’s auction strategy notebook came at a stunning price. He, along with Prashant Veer, broke Avesh Khan’s 2022 record of ₹10 crore for the most expensive uncapped Indian player at an IPL auction.
- The jump from ₹30 lakh base price to ₹14.20 crore is massive, but CSK clearly view him as a long-term core piece — a young keeper-batter you can build the next five seasons around.
4. Prashant Veer — ₹14.20 crore, Chennai Super Kings
- CSK’s twin uncapped gamble: a 20-year-old left-arm spin all-rounder for the post-Jadeja era.
- Same price, same team, similar logic — but a different profile. Veer is a left-arm spinner who can bat, and CSK have built titles on Indian spin-bowling all-rounders. Premium uncapped Indian prices come with risk, but CSK saw enough in his domestic numbers to back him hard.
5. Liam Livingstone — ₹13 crore, Sunrisers Hyderabad
- SRH stayed true to their attacking identity and paid for it.
- After KKR exited and a bidding battle with GT and LSG, SRH eventually won and bought Livingstone for ₹13 crore. Livingstone gives them a power-hitting middle-order option who also bowls handy spin — exactly the kind of profile that fits SRH’s high-scoring template alongside Heinrich Klaasen.
- The risk is consistency. Livingstone’s IPL career has had brilliant nights and quiet stretches. At ₹13 crore, SRH will need more of the former.
6. Mustafizur Rahman — ₹9.20 crore, Kolkata Knight Riders
- KKR’s third buy in the top six — a serious commitment to overseas talent.
- The Bangladesh left-armer brings cutters, change-ups, and proven death-overs experience.
- For KKR, this rounds out a bowling attack already loaded with Pathirana. Mustafizur’s left-arm angle gives them a different look in the middle overs and at the death.
7. Josh Inglis — ₹8.60 crore, Lucknow Super Giants
- LSG paid a premium for a player who’ll only be available for part of the season.
- SRH and LSG engaged in a bidding war, and Lucknow eventually signed him for ₹8.6 crore, even though he will be playing only four matches in IPL 2026.
- That’s a steep price-per-match, but Inglis is an Australian keeper-batter with proven T20 firepower. LSG clearly believed his availability window was worth the rate.
8. Auqib Nabi Dar — ₹8.40 crore, Delhi Capitals
- The biggest uncapped Indian pace story of the auction.
- Picked by Delhi Capitals for ₹8.40 crore, Auqib Nabi — registered as Auqib Dar — was the most expensive Indian bowler, capped or uncapped, at the mini auction.
- That’s a 28x jump from his ₹30 lakh base price. The Jammu & Kashmir pacer is a swing bowler who’s improved his death-overs skills, and as a 29-year-old who helped J&K lift the Ranji Trophy, he brings red-ball-tested control to DC’s pace plans alongside Mitchell Starc.
9. Ravi Bishnoi — ₹7.20 crore, Rajasthan Royals
- An Indian leg-spinner is always valuable, and RR knew it.
- The contest started with RR and CSK, with bidding crossing the ₹5 crore mark. SRH entered late, but Rajasthan eventually sealed the deal at ₹7.2 crore.
- Bishnoi was released by LSG after a tough 2025 (9 wickets in 11 matches at an economy of 10.83), but his overall record — 72 wickets in 77 IPL games at an economy of 8.21 — is the bigger picture. RR needed a middle-overs Indian wrist-spinner. They got one.
10. Jason Holder — ₹7 crore, Gujarat Titans
- A veteran all-rounder for a settled squad that just needed balance.
- The bidding sparked a contest between CSK and Gujarat Titans, with GT securing him for ₹7 crore and filling a key seam-bowling all-rounder slot.
- Holder offers height, bounce, lower-order hitting, and ice-cold experience in pressure situations. GT had traded out other overseas options and needed exactly this profile — a do-it-all Caribbean veteran.
Notable Mention: Venkatesh Iyer — ₹7 crore, Royal Challengers Bengaluru
Venkatesh Iyer was bought by RCB for ₹7 crore — the same price as Jason Holder. The interesting context: Venkatesh had been bought by KKR for ₹23.75 crore in the IPL 2025 auction, so this is a significant correction in his market value. He’s worth a mention so readers don’t think the list missed him.
Summary – IPL 2026 Auction Top Buys
- KKR dominated the expensive buys list, a spending pattern that could have a major impact on the IPL 2026 team rankings. Three players in the top six — Cameron Green, Matheesha Pathirana, and Mustafizur Rahman — all came to Kolkata. They walked in with the biggest purse and used almost all of it on overseas match-winners.
- CSK invested heavily in uncapped Indian players in IPL 2026, with Kartik Sharma and Prashant Veer both going for ₹14.20 crore. . Two ₹14.20 crore buys on Kartik Sharma and Prashant Veer signal a long-term squad-building shift.
- All-rounders remained the most valuable asset class. Green, Veer, Holder, Livingstone — the biggest bids went to players who give you two skills for one slot.
- Overseas players still commanded premium prices, even with the new ₹18 crore salary cap on overseas mini-auction signings.
- Indian uncapped players are now major auction assets. ₹14.20 crore for a teenage keeper-batter and ₹8.40 crore for a J&K swing bowler tells you franchises are betting bigger than ever on domestic talent.
Total spend across the auction: ₹215.45 crore on 77 players, with 29 overseas players among them.