While most of the star Indian players generally get retained by their respective franchises ahead of the IPL auction, some of them, who do get released into the auction, at times, end up fetching more than those players who are actually retained.
Here are the two most expensive Indian players in the history of IPL auction –
Yuvraj Singh (16 crore INR)
There are a few Indian players who have received an amount of 16 crores or more from their respective franchises as their salary, but it has happened only when they have been retained. In an IPL auction, no Indian player ever has been bought for an amount that Yuvraj Singh was bought for, in the 2015 auction, by Delhi Daredevils (now Delhi Capitals).
Yuvraj, at that time, was not even at the peak of his career and was perhaps on a bit of a down-slide. RCB had spent a huge amount on him a year before that and although he had won them a couple of games, they had to release him because they felt the price was too much. Delhi Daredevils, however, still broke the bank for Yuvraj in the 2015 auction and bought him for a whopping 16 crore INR.
Ishan Kishan (15.25 crore INR)
While everyone knew that Ishan Kishan was going to fetch a huge sum of money in the 2022 IPL auction because of his dual ability of batting and keeping wickets, the amount that was estimated was in the range of 10-12 crore INR, but Ishan ended up fetching a little bit more than that.
Ishan’s previous franchise Mumbai Indians won the fierce bidding war for the left-handed wicketkeeper-batsman and was able to buy him back, although the deal cost them 15.25 crore INR, which was more than two and a half times the money that they were paying to Ishan for the last 4 years. They will, however, still be happy with the deal because Ishan is a bright future prospect.