Most Expensive Players in IPL 2026

The stage is set for another memorable IPL auction. The highly-awaited IPL 2025 mega auction will be taking place on November 24 and 25 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

A total of 1574 players had initially registered for the mega auction. Later, the list was pruned to 574 players - 366 Indians and 208 overseas players. Before the players registered themselves for the auction, the ten franchises announced the name of the players that they have retained.

The ten teams have retained a total of 46 players. Of the 46 players, 36 are Indians and 10 are overseas players. Reigning champions Kolkata Knight Riders and Rajasthan Royals are the only teams to retain the full quota of six players.

Sunrisers Hyderabad, Lucknow Super Giants, Chennai Super Kings, Mumbai Indians and Gujarat Titans have retained five players each while Delhi Capitals and Royal Challengers Bengaluru have retained four and three players respectively. On the other hand, Punjab Kings have retained only two players.

As far as the most expensive player is concerned, the tag belongs to South Africa's Heinrich Klaasen. Sunrisers Hyderabad retained the wicketkeeper-batsman's services for a whopping amount of INR 23 crores.

On the other hand, Virat Kohli is the most expensive Indian player with Royal Challengers Bengaluru retaining him for INR 21 crores.

Here is a list showing the most expensive player for each IPL franchise:

Chennai Super Kings: Ruturaj Gaikwad (INR 18 crore), Ravindra Jadeja (INR 18 crore)

Delhi Capitals:  Axar Patel (INR 16.5 crore)

Gujarat Titans: Rashid Khan (INR 18 crore)

Kolkata Knight Riders: Rinku Singh (INR 13 crore)

Lucknow Super Giants: Nicholas Pooran (INR 21 crore)

Mumbai Indians: Jasprit Bumrah (INR 18 crore)

Punjab Kings: Shashank Singh (INR 5.5 crore)

Rajasthan Royals: Sanju Samson (INR 18 crore), Yashasvi Jaiswal (INR 18 crore)

Royal Challengers Bengaluru: Virat Kohli (INR 21 crore)

Sunrisers Hyderabad: Heinrich Klaasen (INR 23 crore)