IPL: Expenditure of each franchise at auctions in tournament history

3. Kolkata Knight Riders - INR 852.5 CR

Kolkata Knight Riders have been one of the most successful franchises in the history of the lucrative T20 tournament, having won the IPL title in 2012 and 2014. In the 14th edition, the Kolkata franchise got to the final showdown but suffered defeat at the hands of Chennai Super Kings.

Kolkata have made many marquee signings and at times have to spend a hefty sum to rope in players of their liking. KKR went all guns blazing to sign Gautam Gambhir at the 2011 player auction and finally obtained him for INR 14.9 crore. This proved to be an outstanding buy as it was the under the leadership of the Gambhir that the Knight Riders won twin championships.

At the 2020 IPL auction, KKR went all out to pick Pat Cummins and paid a whopping sum of INR 15.5 crore. In the previous auction, the Kolkata franchise left no stone unturned to acquire Shreyas Iyer and signed him for INR 12.25 crore. In total, the two-time IPL champions have spent around INR 852.5 crore in the 15 years of the high-profile competition played thus far.