IPL 2026 auction: Australia's Cameron Green, uncapped pair rewrite records

With this, Green crossed the record held by Mitchell Starc, another Australian cricketer, at Rs 24.75 crore

Australia’s Cameron Green emerged as the headline pick of the Indian Premier League’s (IPL’s) 2026 mini auction on Tuesday, after Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) agreed to pay ₹25.20 crore for the all-rounder, making him the most expensive overseas player in the tournament’s auction history and the highest-priced buy at a smaller auction.

 

The auction also produced an unexpected shift in approach from Chennai Super Kings (CSK), which spent heavily on two uncapped players -- Prashant Veer, 20-year-old left-arm spin all-rounder, and Kartik Sharma, 19-year-old keeper-batter -- signing each for ₹14.20 crore. Both had entered the auction with a base price of ₹30 lakh. The previous record for an uncapped player was held by Lucknow Super Giants (LSG), who bought Avesh Khan for ₹10 crore ahead of IPL 2022.

 

Green’s price surpassed the earlier record of ₹24.75 crore set by fellow Australian Mitchell Starc at the 2024 auction, when he too was picked up by KKR and later played a key role in their title-winning campaign. In overall IPL auction history, Green now ranks third behind Rishabh Pant and Shreyas Iyer. 

 

The mini auction, held in Abu Dhabi, began with Mumbai Indians (MI) and Rajasthan Royals (RR) bidding for the 26-year-old at his base price of ₹2 crore. KKR soon joined, with CSK briefly pushing the bidding to its peak before KKR secured the final bid.

 

“We are very happy with the price at which we got him (Green),” Venky Mysore, chief executive of Knight Riders Group and Red Chillies Entertainment, said at a press conference streamed on JioHotstar. “He adds a lot to our team, especially with our new power coach, Andre Russell… It is a very good thing to have a young all-rounder having IPL experience.”

 

KKR entered the auction with the largest purse at ₹64.30 crore, followed by CSK at ₹43.40 crore. They also spent ₹18 crore on Sri Lanka fast bowler Matheesha Pathirana, whose base price was ₹2 crore, making him the second most expensive purchase of the day.

 

The bidding for Veer opened with MI and RP–Sanjiv Goenka Group’s LSG, before CSK joined at ₹1.30 crore and eventually outbid Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH). For Sharma, MI, LSG and KKR initiated the bidding, with CSK entering at ₹3 crore. The franchise, known for favouring experience, opted this time to invest in younger Indian players.

 

England all-rounder Liam Livingstone completed the top five picks, joining SRH for ₹13 crore after going unsold in the main rounds. His base price was ₹2 crore.

 

By the end of the second accelerated round, 48 players had been sold, with the 10 franchises spending a combined ₹159.60 crore.