IPL 2026 Auction: KKR Buy Green For Rs 25.2 Crore, Pathirana For Rs 18 Crore; RCB Get Iyer, Bishnoi Joins RR

Cameron Green was the headline act during the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 Auction. The Australian all-rounder was sold for a whopping Rs 25.2 crore to the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in Abu Dhabi on Dec. 16, 2025.

This is the highest-ever successful bid for an overseas player at an IPL auction and the third-highest overall. KKR even bought Matheesha Pathirana for a staggering Rs 18 crore.

Venkatesh Iyer and Ravi Bishnoi were the secondary acts during the much-hyped IPL auction. Iyer was sold to the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) for Rs 7 crore and Bishnoi joined Rajasthan Royals (RR) for Rs 7.2 crore.

It was Green, who was always expected to be the star attraction during this auction. He came in at a base price of Rs 2 crore. Mumbai Indians (MI) began the bidding but with a purse of only Rs 2.75 crore they had no option but to get out of the race as a slew of teams went in for the Aussie all-rounder.

It was no surprise that it was KKR and Chennai Super Kings (CSK) who went the distance for Green. Both franchises had the largest purses heading into the auction.

He was eventually sold to KKR for the massive Rs 25.2 crore payout. Green has previously played for the MI and RCB.

The auction started with his compatriot Jake Fraser-McGurk being drawn first, but he went unsold in the first round. South Africa's David Miller was next and he went to Delhi Capitals (DC) for his base price of Rs 2 crore.

India's Prithvi Shaw and Sarfaraz Khan went unsold in the first round. New Zealand batter Devon Conway also went unsold.

England's Gus Atkinson began the second round of bidding. He too went unsold. Teams were playing cards close to their chests and wanted to save as much money as possible before going in for their targets.

This was an expected strategy as Kiwi Rachin Ravindra, England all-rounder Liam Livingstone, South African all-rounder Wiaan Mulder followed Atkinson in being unsold.

Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) finally broke the doldrums as they successfully bid for Sri Lankan leg-spinner Wanindu Hasaranga at his base price of Rs 2 crore. They immediately went in for Iyer.

The dashing Indian left-handed batter and all-rounder was expected to get some traction in the auction. Gujarat Titans (GT), RCB and KKR were also interested in Iyer. Eventually it was between the defending champions RCB and his former team KKR.

Iyer was sold for a relatively huge Rs 7 crore to the RCB. This is quite below his Rs 23.75 crore bid in the previous year's auction.

Unsurprisingly, MI got South African wicketkeeper-batter Quinton De Kock for his modest base price of Rs 1 crore.

Once the third round began, teams started to loosen their purse strings as they needed to fill their squads.

Sri Lankan slinger Pathirana was in the middle of a bidding war between LSG and DC. Then eventually it was KKR and LSG who took his price till Rs 18 crore before the latter dropped out of the race.

Bishnoi was also expected to gain some interest as many teams were on the lookout for quality leg-spinners. Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) and RR were the main teams in for Bishnoi. RR won the race with a Rs 7.2 crore bid.

Jammu and Kashmir all-rounder Auqib Nabi was the biggest surprise in the later stages of the IPL auction. The right-arm new-ball bowler, with a base price of Rs 30 lakh, was pursued by DC, RR, RCB and SRH. His services was eventually secured by the Delhi franchise for an eye-scratching Rs 8.4 crore.

Prashant Veer, from Uttar Pradesh, was next with many teams highly interested in him. The left-arm finger-spinner had his base price at Rs 30 lakh. LSG, MI and CSK were soon bidding for him.

Then RR and SRH joined in. Chennai finally got their Ravindra Jadeja replacement for an immense Rs 14.2 crore.

Uncapped wicketkeeper batter Kartik Sharma, 19, was the target of many teams. Five teams bid for him taking his price above Rs 14 crore. CSK eventually bid the highest with Rs 14.2 crore and got what many believe is the next big thing in India's wicketkeeping-batting scene.

More keeper-batters Mukul Choudhary and Tejasvi Dahiya went to LSG for Rs 2.6 crore and KKR for Rs 3 crore respectively.

It's poignant to mention that none of them are unknown to the IPL franchises and people in this business, but they are relatively unknown to the general public. Most of them are not unknown anymore!

The accelerated auction then saw many players come and go and teams trying to complete their squads with the purse they had left. Sri Lankan Pathum Nissanka was sold to DC for Rs 4 crore. Rahul Tripathi went back to KKR at his base price of Rs 75 lakh.

West Indies all-rounder and former captain Jason Holder went for big bucks as GT got in on the act and bid Rs 7 crore. Nobody could keep KKR away as they bought Tim Seifert for Rs 1.5 crore.

Tricky Bangladesh left-arm medium-fast bowler Mustafizur Rahman was in demand. It was no surprise as it was KKR again who had the final bid of Rs 9.2 crore.

Left-arm seam bowler Mangesh Yadav went to RCB for Rs 5.2 crore. SRH bid Rs 1.5 crore for Salil Arora, and finally Punjab Kings successfully bid for their first player in the auction as Cooper Connolly was bought for Rs 3 crore.

(This is a developing story.)