Overseas players are a very important part of any franchise as a team gets to pick only 4 overseas players in their 11 and they need to be the best of the lot. Teams are seen spending heavily on overseas players over the years due to their importance in a T20I side in a tournament like the Tata Indian Premier League (IPL). Here, we will have a look at the top-5 most expensive overseas players in IPL history.
1. Chris Morris (All-rounder, South Africa)
In the 2021 season, Rajasthan Royals bought Chris Morris for a whopping INR 16.25 crores making him the most expensive buy in the IPL Auction history. He was bought by the Rajasthan Royals franchise with a lot of hopes but was not able to do justice to the amount he was getting. He played only 11 matches in the 2021 season and took 15 wickets with an economy of 9.17 rpo which was not really expected from him. He didn’t do anything with the bat also as he scored just 67 runs in 11 matches with a strike rate of 136.73. he was expected to perform a lot better by the RR franchise. After this season, he retired from the IPL and took out his name from the 2022 mega-auction list.
2. Pat Cummins (Bowler, Australia)
Kolkata Knight Riders bought the services of Australian fast bowler Pat Cummins ahead of the 2020 IPL season for INR 15.5 crores, making him the most expensive player in the 2020 IPL Auction. He didn’t have a very good season as he took just 12 wickets in 14 games but bowled with an economy of 7.86 rpo throughout the season. He made them win one particular match where he scored 53* runs in about 20 odd balls. He was not able to perform much but had a huge impact on their team and was very important to the leadership group. He stayed with the KKR franchise for two more seasons but didn’t play many matches as he made himself unavailable before getting released by the franchise (due to unavailability) ahead of the 2023 season.
3. Kyle Jamieson (Bowler, New Zealand)
This New Zealand speedster was bought by the Royal Challengers Bangalore franchise in the 2021 auction to fulfill their need of getting an express pace bowler who can also bat a bit at the end. They acquired his services for INR 15 crores and expected him to be the x-factor player for them. He played only 9 matches for them that season due to national commitments but didn’t have a very huge impact on the team’s performance. He took just 9 wickets in the season and bowled with an economy of 9.61 rpo. He was then released by the RCB franchise before the 2022 IPL mega auction but he opted out of the auction due to personal reasons.
4. Ben Stokes (All-rounder, England)
This charismatic England all-rounder has always been among the most expensive players in IPL history. In the year 2017, he broke all the charts when the newly appointed team Rising Pune Supergiants bought him for a sum of INR 14.5 crores. He was bought by the Rising Pune franchise after involving in bidding wars with a lot of teams as many franchises were keen on having a player of the stature of Ben Stokes in their team. He had a pretty good season where he scored 316 runs at an average of 31.60 and a strike rate of 142.98. He also scored an unbeaten century that season and helped Pune’s team reach the final of the Tata Indian Premier League 2017 season where Rising Pune Supergiants lost to Mumbai Indians by 1 run in a thriller. He had a good season with the ball too where he took 12 wickets in 12 matches at an economy of 7.18 rpo. He was then bought by the Rajasthan Royals franchise in the 2018 season as 2017 was Pune’s last season in the IPL.
5. Glenn Maxwell (Batter, Australia)
Royal Challengers Bangalore played a gamble in the 2021 IPL Auction where they purchased Australian superstar Glenn Maxwell for a whopping amount of INR 14.25 crores after he was released by the Punjab Kings (previously Kings 11 Punjab) having a very poor run in the 2020 season. Tata IPL 2021 was the breakthrough season for Maxwell as he scored 513 runs in 15 matches, scoring at an average of 42.75 and a strike rate of 144. He scored almost five times the runs he scored with Punjab Kings in the 2020 season (108 runs) in the 2021 season with Royal Challengers Bangalore. He has been retained by the RCB franchise since then and will play for them in the upcoming edition of the IPL too.
