Most Expensive Player in the History of the IPL
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1. Virat Kohli in 2018
Virat Kohli is the only player in the history of the IPL to play for the same side for 13 years. In fact, Kohli is the only player in the history of the Indian T20 league to have never gone into the auction. He was picked up by the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in 2008 during the draft for the Under-19 players. The Delhi lad was the only player retained by RCB before he was retained again in 2014. In 2018, when the mega auctions came around, the rules were a team could retain a maximum of three players and if three players were retained, the top-most player got INR 15 crore. However, RCB went out of the way and retained Virat Kohli for INR 17 crore, making him the most expensive player in the history of the league.
2. Yuvraj Singh in 2015
Yuvraj Singh has always been a very attractive proposition in the IPL auctions. Twice in two years, he was the most expensive player in the auction. After going for INR 14 crore in 2014, Yuvraj went even higher in 2015. Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) and Delhi Daredevils (now Capitals) were in a bidding war for the Punjab southpaw. Eventually, it was Delhi who won that battle and availed the services of Yuvraj in 2015. However, it came at a record price of INR 16 crore. Yuvraj remains the most expensive player to be ever bought in the history of the IPL auctions.
3. Pat Cummins in 2020
Even before the IPL auctions for the 2020 season got underway, there had been a lot of buzz around Pat Cummins. He had missed the 2018 and 2019 seasons and it was a curious case whether 2020 would be the same. However, it didn’t matter as the teams went hell for leather for Cummins. The Australian fast bowler, who can tonk the ball lower down the order, fetched the biggest pay cheque ever by an overseas player in the IPL. Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) bagged him for a whopping sum of INR 15.5 crore.