Cameron Green dominates IPL 2026 auction; Matheesha Pathirana not too far behind, but uncapped Indians the real stars

Cameron Green and Matheesha Pathirana were the two costliest buys but it was the uncapped Indian trio that made the most headlines.

Cameron Green lived up to expectations, emerging as the costliest overseas buy and making the biggest headline of the IPL 2026 auction. The Australian all-rounder fetched a record-breaking bid of ₹25.2 crore, breaking his teammate Mitchell Starc’s record, who in 2023 was given ₹24.75 crore by KKR itself. Green wasn’t only KKR’s big purchase of the day, though. Heading into the event, KKR had the fattest purse of ₹64.3 crore, and they ensured their wealth was well spent when they acquired Matheesha Pathirana for ₹18 crore. Venkatesh Iyer’s stocks nosedived from last year, as he was hit by a pay cut of ₹16.75 crore – down by 71 per cent – to eventually get picked by the Royal Challengers Bengaluru for ₹7 crore.

Cameron Green picked by KKR while Prashant Veer goes to CSK. (AFP/HT Photo)

However, overshadowing Green and Pathirana, not in terms of money but on talent alone, the uncapped Indian trio made most heads turn. Rajasthan wicketkeeper batter Kartik Sharma and all-UPT20 rounder Prashant Veer created a joint record, becoming the costliest Indian uncapped buys in the history of IPL auctions. CSK, the five-time champions, shelled out a collective sum of ₹28.4 crore on the young Indian duo. Besides, J&K pacer Auqib Dar earned Delhi Capitals’ trust for ₹8.4 crore.

Good news was also welcomed by Sarfaraz Khan and Prithvi Shaw. The axed India Test batter, who has been plundering runs in the domestic circuit, returned to an IPL franchise for the first time since 2021, with CSK acquiring him for 75 lakh. In the accelerated round, after all 10 teams were asked to finalise five players each, Sarfaraz and Shaw ended their IPL exile. Shaw was a third-time lucky, returning to DC for ₹75 lakh too. Late in the day, England’s Liam Livingstone triggered an auction frenzy, with Sunrisers Hyderabad acquiring their biggest buy of the day for ₹13 crore.

Cameron attracts mega Greenbacks; massive pay cut for Venkatesh

If there is anything such as favouritism going into an auction, Green comprehensively lived up to it, triggering a fierce bidding war that culminated in him becoming the most expensive overseas player in IPL history. The 26-year-old Australian was always going to be a hot property, given the all-round skills he brings with him, and it was expected that Kolkata Knight Riders and Chennai Super Kings, the two franchises with the most money left, would go hammer and tongs.

Unsurprisingly, KKR made the early running after Mumbai Indians opened the bidding at the big Aussie’s base price of ₹2 crore. CSK did not enter the fray until the sum had ballooned to ₹13.60 crore, and were involved in a dogfight with the 2024 champions before dropping out of the race at ₹25 crore, which was more than half their remaining amount of ₹43.40 crore.

Green has been involved in the IPL previously, with Royal Challengers Bengaluru and Mumbai Indians, and on both occasions, his teams made it to the playoffs. KKR will be hoping they go at least one better, especially given that Green has now started to bowl after recovering fully from back surgery that kept him out of the last edition of the tournament.

Only Rishabh Pant ( ₹27 crore) and Shreyas Iyer ( ₹26.75 crore) have attracted higher bids in all IPLs in the past. Green will add great depth and value to KKR, who offloaded a host of big names after last year, and should be a firm favourite to bat in the top three, at the very least, where he is at his most destructive.

Venkatesh, for whom KKR dished out ₹23.75 crore last year before releasing him back into the auction pool this time, was also the object of a bidding contest, though that was not as intense as the one involving Green. The betting process was tepid to start with until RCB and KKR got going. After much deliberation, KKR bowed out of the race at ₹6.80 crore, which meant RCB secured the Madhya Pradesh all-rounder’s services for ₹7 crore. It was a huge comedown for Venkatesh from the high of last year.

No substitute for raw Indian talent

Prashant Veer. Kartik Sharma. Auqib Nabi Dar. These are hardly household names in their own state, let alone the country, yet they are the three who attracted the highest bids among Indian players in the first round of the mini auction. The emergence of this uncapped trio highlights two significant factors: 1) The mushrooming of T20 leagues across the nation and, 2) The robust talent scouting mechanisms that have been put in place by all franchises.

Prashant and Kartik are both 20-year-olds who were snapped up by Chennai Super Kings, historically conservative when it comes to young, relatively unknown Indians, for ₹14.2 crore each, the joint highest for an uncapped player in IPL history. Nabi, much older at 29, went for ₹8.4 crore to Delhi Capitals. Right now, for this bunch of players, this might seem like an end in itself, but when the excitement settles down and when it’s time to confront reality, they will understand that this is just the beginning – more so for the 20-year-olds than for Nabi.

Amethi-born Prashant has played just two first-class games and nine T20 matches, but in the left-arm spinner and the hard-hitting left-hand batter, CSK see a long-term replacement for Ravindra Jadeja, traded to Rajasthan Royals. Apart from 12 wickets at an economy of 6.45, Prashant has scored at 167.16 per 100 balls faced in representative 20-over cricket. He came to prominence at the UP T20 league with 320 runs and eight wickets in 10 outings.

Kartik, who is also very competent behind the stumps, has smacked 28 sixes in 12 T20s and in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy tournament, the Rajasthan youngster went after the experienced spin duo of left-armer R Sai Kishore (Tamil Nadu) and Shreyas Gopal (Karnataka). Last season, he trained with the CSK outfit and clearly impressed the men who matter, primary among them a certain Mahendra Singh Dhoni.

Other uncapped Indians too were in demand. Wicketkeeper-batters Mukul Choudhary and Tejasvi Singh were sold for ₹2.6 crore and ₹3 crore to Lucknow Super Giants and Kolkata Knight Riders respectively, LSG shelled out a cool ₹1 crore for pacer Naman Tiwari, and Ashok Sharma and Sushant Mishra, also fast bowlers, went for ₹90 lakh each to Gujarat Titans and Rajasthan Royals respectively.