IPL: The most expensive buys ever for each franchise

Each year, the franchises spend a lot of money to acquire their favorite players. But, do you ever wonder what have been the most expensive buys for each franchise at the IPL? 

Well, here’s a list of each franchise, and their most expensive buys ever: 

IPL: Most expensive buys ever for each franchise. 

1. Mumbai Indians:

At the auction for the 2023 edition of the Indian Premier League, Mumbai Indians went all guns blazing for Aussie all-rounder Cameron Green. The 5-times champion team bought Green for a whopping amount of Rs. 17.5 crores, making him the second most expensive buy this season, as well as of all time. 

Green has stormed international cricket with his batting and bowling. However, the young gun is yet to make his debut at the IPL. Nonetheless, the 23-year-old showed a trailer of what he has to offer at the India-Australia T20 series last year. 

In just 8 T20 internationals, Green has scored 139 runs at a mammoth strike rate of 173. Not only that, but he has also scalped 5 wickets with his medium pace. Green surpassed Ishan Kishan, who was bought by MI in the 2022 auction at a sum of 15.25 crores, to become the franchise’s most expensive player. 

2. Chennai Super Kings

The Chennai Super Kings recently acquired England’s test captain Ben Stokes for a sum of Rs. 16.25 crores, making him the franchise’s most expensive player. Chennai were looking to acquire a player who could not only provide stability to the team but also someone who could fill in Dhoni’s shoes once the legend retires. 

After being a part of the Rajasthan camp for four consecutive years, Stokes decided not to take part in last year’s IPL. He was up for grabs at this year’s auction and CSK were more than happy to comply. 

However, this year won’t be the first time Dhoni and Stokes will play together. The duo was a part of the Rising Pune Supergiants squad in the 2017 season of the IPL, where they took the team to the final but lost to Mumbai Indians. Making a comeback in the IPL, Stokes would be looking forward to leaving a mark with his performances and maybe even being considered for the team’s captaincy once Dhoni hangs his boots. 

3. Kolkata Knight Riders

KKR as a franchise do not have a history of going too big in the auction. Instead, they try to build a rather balanced team without having to spend big for players. However, in the last few years, KKR have broken that notion to buy some really hefty players. 

The most expensive buy for KKR came in 2020 in the form of Australian fast bowler Pat Cummins. Cummins was the number one ranked test bowler then and was expected to be a hot buy. KKR bought the right-arm pacer for a hefty sum of Rs. 15.5 Crores. 

However, he had a rather mediocre season with the squad and was only able to take 12 wickets in 14 matches for the team. He did have some good outings with the bat but none of them were able to justify the hefty sum of Rs. 15.5 crores that KKR had bought him for. Despite that, KKR retained him for the next season wherein his performance slightly enhanced but was only able to play 7 games that season. 

After that KKR decided to release him, only to buy him at half his price for the 2022 auction. 

4. Sunrisers Hyderabad

Sunrisers were one of those teams that went big at the auction this season and their most expensive buy ever too came from this year’s auction only. Sunrisers bought England’s young batter, Harry Brook for a sum of Rs. 13.25 crores. 

Brook made his debut for England just last year, and ever since then, he has been the kid who gets talked about the most. Brook is an aggressive right-handed batsman who plays in the middle order and often finishes the innings for England. 

In his very young career of just 20 T20 internationals, Brook has scored 270 runs at a strike rate of 138. His numbers in domestic and franchise cricket are even better. In 99 T20s, Brook has scored 2432 runs at an average of 34 and an impressive strike rate of 149. Coming fresh into this season, Brook would hope to leave the same kind of impact in the IPL and make his franchise reach new heights.

5. Rajasthan Royals

The winners of the inaugural season of the Indian Premier League have not been able to replicate the same performance ever since. The closest they came to the trophy again was at last year’s final but to their bad luck, lost to the Gujarat Giants. 

Rajasthan’s most expensive buy ever was at the 2021 auction when the franchise bought the South African all-rounder Chris Morris for a mammoth sum of Rs. 16.25 crores, making him the most expensive buy in the history of IPL back then. Despite being bought at such a huge amount, Morris was not able to deliver on the expectations in what turned out to be his last season ever. 

In 11 matches, Morris managed to pick up just 15 wickets and leaked runs at a hemorrhaging economy rate of  9.17. Coming in with the respect of an all-rounder, his batting was no better either. He finished the season with just 67 runs to his name; however, his strike rate was quite good. Nonetheless, the franchise released him after the tournament ended after which Morris decided to retire from all forms of cricket.

6. Punjab Kings

Punjab Kings created history this season when they bought Sam Curran for a hefty sum of Rs. 18.5 crores, making him not only the most expensive buy of the season but of all IPL.

However, this is not the first time Curran would play for Punjab. Curran had made his debut for the same franchise way back in 2019. Featuring in just 9 games for the franchise in that year, Curran picked up 10 wickets for the franchise. However, his economy rate was on the higher side as the southpaw leaked runs at a rate of 9.78 runs per over. 

On the contrary, his batting was on the plus side. In the very few chances he got to bat that season, Curran scored 95 runs at a mammoth strike rate of 172, and a decent average of 23. However, after that, he went to play for the Chennai Super Kings where Dhoni made him realize his true potential. 

CSK released him in hopes that he could be bought back at a lesser price. However, when Curran performed exceptionally well at the T20 World Cup last year and went on to become the Player of the Series, his stakes just went up.

7. Delhi Capitals

The Delhi Capitals have always been a star-studded team. The team has been home to some of the biggest stars like Virender Sehwag, David Warner, Ross Taylor, Morne Morkel, Mahela Jayawardene, Ross Taylor, Kevin Pieterson, and a lot more. 

However, none of these have been their biggest buy. Delhi Capitals' biggest purchase was in the year 2015 when the franchise was still called Delhi Daredevils. The franchise bought Yuvraj Singh for an insane amount of Rs. 16 crores, making him not only the most expensive buy of the season but of all time (back then). 

Yuvraj was the most expensive buy of the season a year before that as well. He was bought by RCB for a sum of Rs. 14 crores but was released after just one season. 

However, Yuvraj could not live up to the reputation of his name as well as the insane amount he was bought for. In 14 games for the Daredevils (Capitals), Yuvraj scored just 248 runs at an average of just above 19 and took just one wicket. Nonetheless, Yuvraj will still be one of the greatest participants in the league.

8. Royal Challengers Bangalore

As a franchise, Royal Challengers Bangalore do not shy from spending big for the players they want. The team bought Yuvraj Singh in 2014 for a  whopping sum of Rs. 14 crores, making him the second-highest buy ever in the history of IPL back then. 

However, Yuvraj is not the one the team has spent the most on. During the 2021 auction, the franchise bought New Zealand all-rounder Kyle Jamieson for a sum of Rs. 15 crores. This was the same season when the team went all guns on Australian all-rounder Glenn Maxwell and bought him for Rs. 14.25 crores. 

Speaking of Jamieson, he had a below-average IPL season with the franchise. Owing to constant poor performances, the franchise allowed him to play just 9 games where he failed with the bat as well as the ball. In 9 games, Jamieson bowled just 28 overs and gave away 269 runs at an economy rate of 9.6. He was able to pick up just 9 wickets in those games and didn’t look effective at all. With the bat, the story wasn’t any different. He managed to score just 65 runs with the bat at an average of just above 16.

9. Lucknow Super Giants

Having added to the Indian Premier League just last season, Lucknow Super Giants have been a part of just two auctions. Despite that, the team has had a really good time at the auctions. 

The franchise’s most expensive player currently is KL Rahul. However, he is not their most expensive buy as he was drafted as a part of IPL policies. This season, the franchise added the services of Caribbean explosive batsman Nicholas Pooran for a price of Rs. 16 crores, making him the fourth most expensive player this season. 

Pooran has been around the IPL scene for a while now and 2023 will be his fifth season. However, it will be his first with the Super Giants. With 912 runs to his name in IPL, Pooran would be eyeing to close in on a thousand runs in his IPL career this season.

10. Gujarat Titans

Just like the Super Giants, Gujarat Titans have also been a part of just two IPL auctions. The team was added only last year to the IPL roster. 

For Gujarat, the most expensive came last season itself, when they bought Lockie Ferguson for a sum of Rs. 10 crores. However, Hardik Pandya and Rashid Khan cost a lot more to the franchise, they were added during the draft and were not a part of the auction. 

Lockie’s performance at the 2022 IPL was subpar. The right-arm speedster from New Zealand bowled almost 48 overs in the season in 13 games and was able to pick up just 12 wickets, that too at an economy rate of 8.96. As a result, he was traded to KKR, his previous franchise.

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