IPL 2018 auction: Highest paid cricketers at the auction every year and how they fared in that year

From the time the Indian Premier League (IPL) started in 2008, it has grown into one of the biggest tournaments across the world. We’ve seen the world engrossed in it, the players have admitted that they love playing the IPL and the fans as always are thrilled.

And even though, the IPL takes place in April-May, the excitement starts from January when the auction takes place. And there absolutely no doubt that everyone looks out for who gets sold for the maximum amount.

Hence, as we enter a new decade of the IPL and with the much-awaited auctions just a few days away, let’s go back and have a look at the highest paid cricketers at each auction and how the respective player fared in that season.

Note – The first 6 seasons (till 2013) the player auctions had prices in US Dollars (USD) and the converted values (to INR) are shown. These values have been approximated.

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2008

MS Dhoni (6.1 crore) – Chennai Super Kings

After his success at the inaugural World T20 as captain and considering his batting prowess, there was no surprise when Mahendra Singh Dhoni became the highest paid cricketer during the inaugural IPL auction. Chennai Super Kings, owned by India Cements, made the highest the highest bid for the Ranchi cricketer.

In the 2008 IPL, Dhoni had a stellar season. He led the CSK franchise to the final of the tournament and was also in brilliant form with the bat. He scored 414 runs at an average of 41.40 and a strike-rate of 133.54.

Dhoni continued to CSK excellently as CSK became one of the most successful franchises over the first 8 seasons before being banned for two years.

2009

Kevin Pietersen (7.3 crore) – Royal Challengers Bangalore

Pietersen didn't have the best of starts to his IPL career.

Kevin Pietersen was one of the most sought-after cricketers in 2009. He had built his reputation of being an aggressive batsman who can take the game away from the opposition. He was bought by Royal Challengers Bangalore for a staggering 1.5 million US Dollars.

Pietersen was also appointed the captain of RCB that year. However, he played only 6 games as he left for England duty after the initial stages of the tournament. He scored only 93 runs at a strike-rate of 109.41. Even as captain, he managed to lead RCB to only 2 wins out of the 6 games. Thus, he had a poor season.

However, in 2010 when he returned to play the IPL he did very well, scoring 236 runs in 7 games.

Andrew Flintoff (7.3 crore) – Chennai Super Kings

Flintoff played just 3 games in his IPL career.

Along with his England teammate Kevin Pietersen, Andrew Flintoff was the most expensive player at the auctions in 2009. And it was CSK who acquired the services of England’s premier all-rounder.

Flintoff played only 3 games in that season, which eventually turned out to be the only 3 games of his IPL career. He scored 62 runs in 3 games and picked up 2 wickets.

2010

Kieron Pollard (3.66 crore) – Mumbai Indians

Kieron Pollard

After a stellar show in the Champions League in 2009, the bid for Kieron Pollard was a four-way tussle with Mumbai Indians, Chennai Super Kings, Royal Challengers Bangalore and Kolkata Knight Riders bidding for the explosive West Indian allrounder. Eventually, it was Mumbai Indians prevailed in a silent tie-breaker bid who paid an additional amount in addition to the $750,000.

In that season, Pollard was at his explosive best scoring at a strike-rate of 185.71 even though he amassed only 273 runs. He also picked up 15 wickets and was a live-wire in the field taking some brilliant catches and saving vital runs.

Since 2010, Pollard has continued to play for Mumbai Indians and has been a permanent member of the playing XI.

Shane Bond (3.66 crore) – Kolkata Knight Riders

Shane Bond played only one IPL season.

Like Kieron Pollard, the bid for New Zealand fast bowler Shane Bond was a tussle. Three teams - Chennai Super Kings, Deccan Chargers and Kolkata Knight Riders were in contention when the bid was locked at $750,000. KKR then won the bid through a silent tie-breaker bid.

Bond though could play only one season in the IPL and he played 8 games in 2010. His performance was decent as he managed to pick up 9 wickets at an economy of 7.22.

But when compared to Pollard, the money paid to Bond was not justified as Pollard delivered at crunch moments with both bat and ball.

2011

Gautam Gambhir (10.9 crore) – Kolkata Knight Riders

Gambhir did very well at KKR.

The 2011 IPL saw all teams reshuffle. They could retain a maximum of four players before the auction and the rest of the players had to go back into the auction pool.

And with a lot of big players available in the auction, Kolkata Knight Riders went out and spent 2.4 million US Dollars to get Gautam Gambhir. The Delhi opener who was a key member of the Indian side from 2007 was also made the captain of the Kolkata franchise.

After a couple of lean seasons, Gambhir found his rhythm once again as he scored 378 runs at an average of 34.36. He also led KKR to their first-ever playoff.

Gambhir went on to lead KKR very well as under his leadership, they won the IPL twice. He also became a lot more consistent at KKR as he scored more than 300 runs in every IPL season for them.

2012

Ravindra Jadeja (9.8 crore) - Chennai Super Kings

Ravindra Jadeja

In 2012, Kochi Tuskers bid adieu to the IPL after playing only one season, and all their players were put into the auction. While there was no doubt that Ravindra Jadeja would get a lot of attention, what stood out from the auction was that Chennai Super Kings spent their entire purse for the Saurashtra all-rounder.

They bought Jadeja for a little over 2 million US Dollars as they won the secret tie-breaker with the Deccan Chargers also bidding for him.

During that year’s IPL, Jadeja wasn’t quite effective with both bat and ball and his form was patchy. He scored only 191 runs in 14 innings (from 19 games) and picked up 12 wickets. Hence, he didn’t have a blockbuster season and didn’t live up to expectations.

However, he went on to become one of the key figures at CSK and formed an integral part of the team.

2013

Glenn Maxwell (5.33 crore) – Mumbai Indians

Despite being bought for $1 million, Maxwell played only 3 games in the entire season in 2013.

It was the bowlers who were the most-sought-after in the 2013 IPL auctions. However, it was Glenn Maxwell who stole the limelight with a million-dollar signing. Mumbai Indians paid 1 million US Dollars for the hard-hitting Australian allrounder.

However, the big signing was not utilised well enough as MI played Maxwell only in 3 games in that season. He scored only 36 runs in those 3 games. His stay at MI was also for just one season as the franchise let go of him the following year.

2014

Yuvraj Singh (14 crore) - Royal Challengers Bangalore

Yuvraj Singh played a couple of blistering knocks for RCB in 2014.

Yuvraj Singh is one of the biggest names in Indian cricket. He played a key role in India’s World T20 victory in 2007 and the World Cup triumph in 2011. After he came back post his cancer battle, he was never the same player. But he was still a match-winner and a lot of them rated him very highly. Hence, the way teams bid for the Punjab all-rounder was fascinating. In the end, it was Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) who bought him for a whopping 14 crore (INR).

Yuvraj Singh joined the likes of Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers and Chris Gayle at the RCB camp as the franchise boasted of a world-class batting line-up. However, RCB finished 7th that year as the team failed to fire in unison.

Yuvraj’s performance also was decent. He scored 376 runs at an average of 34.18 at a strike-rate of 135.25. However, the RCB think-tank decided to let go of Yuvraj for the next season.

2015

Yuvraj Singh (16 crore) – Delhi Daredevils

Yuvraj couldn't produce anything special in the 2015 IPL.

After fetching a record price at the auctions in 2014, Yuvraj Singh once again headlined the player auctions in 2015. He was sold to Delhi Daredevils (DD) for a whopping amount of 16 crores (INR). In fact, RCB who paid 14 crores the previous season went after the Punjab allrounder again and bid till the end before DD prized him out.

With the amount paid to Yuvraj, the expectation was big. However, he failed to deliver. He scored only 248 runs in 14 games at a lowly average of 19.15 and a strike-rate of 118.57. His poor season meant DD had to release him ahead of the player auctions the next season.

2016

Shane Watson (9.5 crore) - Royal Challengers Bangalore

Shane Watson

Royal Challengers Bangalore had proven in the previous auctions that they weren’t shy of shelling out money if they wanted a particular player. It was evident with the big signings of Kevin Pietersen (in 2009), Yuvraj Singh (in 2014) and Dinesh Karthik (in 2015) over the past few seasons.

In 2016, they went after Australia all-rounder Shane Watson and dished out 9.5 crore (INR) to buy him. Even though RCB had a fantastic season in 2016, Shane Watson didn’t have a great IPL.

In the 16 games he played, he scored only 179 runs at an average of 14.75. Most of those innings came at the fag end of the RCB innings, but that was the role assigned to him. With the ball, Watson often bowled the difficult overs (the powerplay and the death) and thus, he picked up 20 wickets.

Watson continued to play for the Bangalore franchise in 2017 as well but was dropped midway through the tournament due to his poor form.

2017

Ben Stokes (14.5 crore) – Rising Pune Supergiant

Ben Stokes was the Player of the Tournament last year.

When Benjamin Stokes decided to enter his name in the players' list in the 2017 auction, a lot of teams would’ve wanted him in their side purely on the basis of the fact that he is a genuine match-winner. His ability to turn the game with both bat and ball was known world-wide.

Thus, Rising Pune Supergiant (RPS) broke the bank to get Stokes and the signing was made at a mind-boggling price of 14.5 crore (INR). This made the Durham allrounder the highest paid foreigner in the history of the IPL.

And he had a wonderful maiden IPL stint. He delivered with both bat and ball and was the key player for RPS as he stood up at key junctures of the game. With the bat, he scored 316 runs in 12 innings at an average of 31.60 and a strike-rate of 142.99. With the ball, he took 12 wickets at an economy of 7.18. He helped RPS reach the playoffs.

However, RPS missed his services in the knockout games as Stokes left the team as he was on England duty. But he had repaid the faith of the team owners and management.