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204 players were bought in the auction, and a total of INR 551.7 crore was spent by the franchises. Here, we look at four of the biggest and potentially the most impactful signings for this year’s Indian Premier League auction.
Ishan Kishan
At INR 15.25 crore, Kishan was the most expensive buy this year. Mumbai Indians saved their purse for him throughout the first day of the auction and then went all in as soon as his name came up. He has been a proven matchwinner for Mumbai over the years, and they wanted him back at all costs.
Kishan will be playing for the same franchise where he has had so much success and with the same core group of players, of which he will be an important part. In earlier seasons, he was not always able to open the innings for Mumbai due to the presence of Quinton de Kock. However, this year, he is sure to open the innings along with Rohit Sharma.
He has been in fine form recently, and being in a familiar setup and batting with familiar names, along with playing as a senior member of the team and sharing added responsibility, should get the best out of him in this season for MI.
Shreyas Iyer
Iyer chose to enter this year’s auction as he had ambitions of being the captain of an IPL team. At INR 12.25 crore, the Kolkata Knight Riders may well have bought him for exactly that. Iyer is a proven batting talent at the IPL stage and would be expected to do well for his new franchise.
However, unlike the Delhi Capitals, where he was part of a very strong batting line-up, here he will have to take a larger share of the run-scoring burden. He will have to mix caution with calculated aggression to set matches up for KKR’s designated finisher, Andre Russel.
Iyer has the ability to succeed in his new role at KKR, but it would be interesting to see how he manages to lead a batting line-up full of talent but somewhat lacking in experience and firepower. It will also be interesting to see how he manages and leads a team as demanding as KKR if given the opportunity to do so.
Liam Livingstone
Livingstone is a global T20 superstar. At INR 11.5 crore, he was the most expensive buy for the Punjab Kings. The Englishman has performed very well at the international level in the shortest format, as he has done in the many T20 leagues he plays in around the world. However, he did not do particularly well in the last edition of the IPL when he was a part of the Rajasthan Royals.
He has, however, been in amazing form recently, and his bowling has also improved considerably. He bowled very well in the last year’s T20 world cup, and his ability to bowl both off-spin and leg-spin gives him a totally different dimension as an allrounder.
At PBKS, he will be batting in a well-rounded batting order and should enjoy the comfort of good platforms when he comes in to bat. Given his recent form, he should do well in this year’s IPL and improve drastically on his performance from last year.
Deepak Chahar
At INR 14 crore, Chahar became the most expensive Indian bowler ever in the history of the IPL. The Chennai Super Kings are a team who always look for consistency in their team selection ,and that was a big reason for them for spending such a huge amount on Chahar. He, in fact, will be earning a higher salary than even MS Dhoni in this year’s IPL.
The 29-year-old will be playing for his old team again, CSK, and under the captain who always seems to get the best out of him, MSD. It was Dhoni who identified how effective Chahar could be with the new ball and started bowling his full quota in the initial overs itself.
Chahar has started bowling at the death as well in recent years and has also played a few very impressive innings with the bat. Though he will be in a familiar setup, he would be bowling with a few new names alongside him, so it will be interesting to see how he performs this time around, with the added responsibility and the pressure of a big price tag.
Most expensive players in 2022 IPL mega auction
| Name | Winning bid | Franchise |
| Ishan Kishan | INR 15.25 crore | Mumbai Indians |
| Deepak Chahar | INR 14 crore | Chennai Super Kings |
| Shreyas Iyer | INR 12.25 crore | Kolkata Knight Riders |
| Liam Livingstone | INR 11.5 crore | Punjab Kings |
| Shardul Thakur | INR 10.75 crore | Delhi Capitals |
| Harshal Patel | INR 10.75 crore | Royal Challengers Bangalore |
| Wanindu Hasaranga | INR 10.75 crore | Royal Challengers Bangalore |
| Nicholas Pooran | INR 10.75 crore | Sunrisers Hyderabad |
| Lockie Ferguson | INR 10 crore | Gujarat Titans |
| Pradish Krishna | INR 10 crore | Rajasthan Royals |
| Avesh Khan | INR 10 crore | Lucknow Super Giants |
