5 craziest bidding wars in IPL history

The Indian Premier League (IPL) has turned out to be Cricket's richest league. Almost every player in the world wishes to be a part of the league, as it offers a lot of money to be a part of 3-4 months of the year. A huge contract or even a fairly good contract can change the lives of individuals. Many cricketers earn millions of dollars every year through the IPL contract.

With each passing year, the costliest player in the league tends to get more money. While many of them were bought in the mini auctions, others were bought in the mega auctions. Not all of them were easily available for grabs, as the franchises had to take a huge risk to get them on board. Some of the players became a part of their team after a crazy bidding war between multiple franchises in the auctions.

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Here are the five craziest bidding wars in IPL history:

5. Mitchell Starc in the IPL Auctions 2024 

Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins scripted history during the IPL auctions, as they became the first players to cross over INR 20 crores and INR 21+ crores in the IPL auctions, respectively. While Cummins was bought by SRH for INR 20.50 crores, Starc surpassed his Australian skipper by becoming the most expensive player of the IPL 2024.

Mumbai Indians and Delhi Capitals wanted him till INR 10 crores and opted out beyond that tag. KKR and Gujarat Titans were ready to throw all of their purse to get the left-arm pacer. In the end, Kolkata were more adamant to buy Starc, as they pipped GT to buy the Australian pacer for a whopping INR 24.75 crores, the highest for an overseas player to date.