All-rounders Curran, Green, and Stokes bag biggest contracts at 2023 IPL auction

It was a record-setting day at the 2023 IPL auction as a total of INR 167 Crore was spent on 80 players by the ten franchises ahead of the upcoming season. The overseas all-rounders attracted the most attention from the teams, with the three most expensive buys in the history of the IPL all taking place at this auction.

Sam Curran became the most expensive player to be sold at an IPL auction after the England all-rounder was bought by the Punjab Kings for a whopping amount of INR 18.5 Crore. The man of the tournament from the 2022 T20 World Cup was subject to a fierce bidding war from five teams, but the Kings staved off all the competition to land the left-arm pacer for a record price.

Cameron Green was another young all-rounder that fetched an eye-watering sum at the 2023 auction, with the Australian joining the Mumbai Indians for a winning bid of INR 17.5 Crore. The 23-year-old showcased his talent in Australia’s recent T20 tour to India – scoring 118 runs in three matches at a strike rate of 214 – and the five-time champions outbid the Delhi Capitals and Royal Challengers Bangalore to acquire his services.

Ben Stokes, meanwhile, equalled Chris Morris’ record pricetag of INR 16.25 Crore from 2021 to become the joint-third most expensive player to be bought at the IPL auction. The English Test skipper was pursued by the Lucknow Super Giants, Rajasthan Royals, Royal Challengers Bangalore, and Sunrisers Hyderabad, but the Chennai Super Kings outlasted them all to add another star all-rounder to their ranks and a potential captaincy replacement for MS Dhoni.

Nicholas Pooran became the most-expensive non-all-rounder to be bought at an IPL auction as the Lucknow Super Giants signed the former West Indian T20 captain for a whopping INR 16 Crore. Harry Brook was another Englishman who received a massive payday. The T20 World Cup winner was bagged by the Sunrisers Hyderabad for INR 13.25 Crore to improve their overseas batting ranks.

The Sunrisers also shelled out INR 8.25 Crore to buy Mayank Agarwal, who was the most expensive Indian player to be sold at this IPL auction. The former Punjab Kings captain was released by his franchise after their disappointing 2022 season but will complement the likes of Abhishek Sharma and Rahul Tripathi nicely at the top of the order in Hyderabad.

The Orange Army entered the 2023 IPL auction with the largest purse and also made marquee purchases of Heinrich Klaasen from South Africa for INR 5.25 Crore and highly-rated Indian youngster Vivrant Sharma for INR 2.6 Crore. Other uncapped players that fetched large sums at this auction included Shivam Mavi (INR 6 Crore), Mukesh Kumar (INR 5.5 Crore), and KS Bharat (INR 1.2 Crore).