Australian all-rounder Cameron Green will head to Kolkata Knight Riders for a staggering INR 25.20 crore – roughly £2.2 million – after Tuesday’s IPL mini-auction turned into a two-horse race between KKR and Chennai Super Kings. The fee makes him the costliest overseas cricketer the competition has seen and the third-priciest player overall, behind only Rishabh Pant (INR 27 crore) and Shreyas Iyer (INR 26.75 crore).
KKR walked into the room with the fattest wallet – just over INR 64 crore – and they needed every last rupee once CSK, armed with INR 43 crore, decided Green was worth the gamble. Mumbai Indians started the bidding but, shackled by a tiny balance of INR 2.75 crore, bowed out almost immediately. Rajasthan Royals nudged the price past INR 13 crore before surrendering, leaving the big spenders to slug it out for another ten-odd minutes.
Because of the tournament’s overseas salary ceiling, Green himself will receive INR 18 crore. The excess – a chunky INR 7.2 crore – heads straight to the BCCI’s player-welfare fund. Small consolation, perhaps, but the 26-year-old will still be pocketing more than any overseas signing has managed before.
Green’s IPL journey has already been eventful. Mumbai paid INR 17.5 crore for his debut season in 2023, reward enough for 452 brisk runs at a strike-rate north of 160 and six handy wickets. A year later he was traded – at the same price – to Royal Challengers Bengaluru, where a back injury left him managing 255 runs and ten wickets. He skipped last winter’s mega-auction to finish his rehab; Tuesday showed the market had not forgotten him.
The day’s other headline belonged to Sri Lanka quick Matheesha Pathirana, snapped up by the same KKR set-up for INR 18 crore after a short but fierce skirmish with Lucknow Super Giants. That deal nudged the 22-year-old past the likes of Mustafizur Rahman and Lasith Malinga on the list of Sri Lanka’s most lucrative IPL contracts.
Elsewhere, the early lots produced more shrugs than paddles. Of the first batch of specialist batters, only David Miller found a home – Delhi Capitals took him for his base INR 2 crore. Promising names such as Jake Fraser-McGurk, Prithvi Shaw, Devon Conway and Sarfaraz Khan trundled back to the unsold pile.
A similar pattern followed among the all-rounders: Wanindu Hasaranga slipped quietly to Lucknow at base price, while Venkatesh Iyer, a 23-crore buy for KKR only last year, fetched just INR 7 crore from Royal Challengers. The likes of Liam Livingstone and Rachin Ravindra went begging.
Things brightened a touch when the wicketkeepers came up. Mumbai added Quinton de Kock, Delhi landed Ben Duckett, and KKR – clearly in spending mood – bagged New Zealand dasher Finn Allen, all for base prices. CSK, sitting on their purse, did not raise a finger until the Green chase and left the opening stanza empty-handed.
Auction tables rarely tell the full story, yet a few threads already stand out. KKR have secured an explosive power-hitter who bowls useful seam – exactly the profile that lifted them to titles in 2012 and 2014. CSK gambled, lost, and must now re-assess with a healthy wad still banked. Lucknow, skittled by KKR over Pathirana, pivoted smoothly to Anrich Nortje – a reminder that in an IPL auction, timing can be everything, planning only slightly less so.
There is still squad-filling to come, but if Tuesday proved anything it’s that premium all-rounders, however briefly injured, remain the most coveted commodity in T20 cricket – and Cameron Green now sits alone atop that particular tree.
