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Cameron Green lived up to the billing arsenic helium emerged the costliest overseas subordinate successful IPL — and the third-highest wide — astatine the Indian Premier League (IPL) auction up of the 2026 season. Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) outbid Chennai Super Kings (CSK) to unafraid the Australian all-rounder for a whopping ₹25.20 crore astatine the Etihad Arena successful Abu Dhabi connected Tuesday (December 16, 2025).
Armed with the biggest purse, KKR besides snapped up Sri Lankan slinger Matheesha Pathirana for ₹18 crore portion Liam Livingstone made a precocious splash successful the callback round, with Sunrisers Hyderabad spending ₹13 crore connected the England all-rounder.
Yet, the auction volition beryllium remembered little for the marquee overseas buys and much for a historical windfall for home uncapped players.
CSK shattered records by acquiring Uttar Pradesh all-rounder Prashant Veer and 19-year-old Rajasthan wicketkeeper-batter Kartik Sharma — who lit up the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy — for ₹14.20 crore each. The duo jointly became the astir costly uncapped players successful IPL history, comfortably eclipsing the erstwhile grounds of ₹10 crore by pacer Avesh Khan astatine the 2022 mega auction.
Remarkably, Prashant and Kartik fetched much than 47 times their basal terms of ₹30 lakh, underlining a wide displacement successful franchise reasoning towards backing home talent. That inclination was further reinforced erstwhile Delhi Capitals secured Jammu & Kashmir plaything bowler Auqib Nabi for ₹8.40 crore portion Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) signed Madhya Pradesh left-arm pace-bowling all-rounder Mangesh Yadav for ₹5.20 crore.
All 4 uncapped Indians featured among the apical 15 buys of the auction, prompting CSK caput manager Stephen Fleming to remark that “the T20 babies are coming to the fore”.
Among established Indian names, Venkatesh Iyer and Ravi Bishnoi — 2 of the astir high-profile releases up of the auction — besides commanded steadfast prices. Rajasthan Royals brought successful Bishnoi arsenic its pb spinner for ₹7.20 crore portion RCB yet landed Venkatesh Iyer aft being outbid by KKR past season, holding steadfast until KKR withdrew astatine ₹7 crore.
In total, each the 77 players were signed astatine the auction arsenic franchises spent ₹215.45 crore combined. Unsurprisingly, KKR emerged arsenic the biggest spender, having entered the auction with a purse much than ₹20 crore higher than its nearest rivals.
CSK added 9 players to its roster, including experienced batter Sarfaraz Khan.
