3 most expensive buys in the history of the IPL auction 

The ongoing IPL 2023 auction got underway in Kochi on Friday (December 23), with several world-class players going under the hammer for 87 slots available.

The first two sets have already seen some hefty buys by the IPL franchises, including Harry Brook to the SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH) for ₹13.25 crore and Cameron Green to Mumbai Indians (MI) for ₹17.50 crore.

However, a historic moment in the auction came when Punjab Kings splashed a whopping ₹18.50 crore to bag Sam Curran.

The intense bidding for the English all-rounder began with a two-way tussle between Mumbai Indians (MI) and Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) before Rajasthan Royals (RR) and Chennai Super Kings (CSK) made attempts at acquiring Curran.

However, PBKS came in after the sum rose above the ₹13-crore mark and outbid the second last bid of ₹18.25 crore by MI. With Curran becoming the costliest buy at the IPL 2023 auction, let's take a look at the three most expensive buys in the history of the league.

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#3 Chris Morris (to RR) and Ben Stokes (to CSK) - ₹16.25 crore

Chris Morris became the costliest buy in the 2021 IPL mini-auction when Rajasthan Royals (RR) secured his services for a price of ₹16.25 crore. The South African was the subject of a fierce bidding war which saw his value soar from a base price of ₹75 lacs to a whopping 16.25 crore.

However, earlier today, CSK matched the ₹16.25 crore price tag when they bagged England's Test skipper Ben Stokes for the same amount in the IPL 2023 mini-auction.

Stokes, who has now become the joint-third-most-expensive buy, will play under the leadership of MS Dhoni in the upcoming IPL season.

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#2 Cameron Green to MI - ₹17.50 crore

Another record was broken on Friday when Australian all-rounder Cameron Green was sold for a massive ₹17.50 crore to the Mumbai Indians to become the second most expensive player ever at the IPL auctions.

The 23-year-old has been in phenomenal form in the recent past for Australia across all formats and is considered one of the hottest properties in world cricket.

Green, who had a successful T20I series against India in September this year (118 runs at a strike rate of 214.6 in three T20Is), is likely to replace Keiron Pollard, who retired ahead of the IPL 2023 season.

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#1 Sam Curran to PBKS - ₹18.50 crore

As mentioned earlier, Sam Curran etched his name in the history books by becoming the most expensive player ever in the Indian Premier League.

Curran, the Player of the Tournament in his side's T20 World Cup triumph in Australia last month, returned to Punjab Kings (PBKS) for an astonishing amount of ₹18.50 crore.

Set on a base price of ₹2 crore, Curran was expected to ignite some fierce bidding war largely due to his impressive recent performances for England. Having made his debut in 2019, the left-arm pacer has played 32 matches so far in the IPL. He picked up as many wickets to go with scoring 337 runs.