IPL 2022 mega auction: Ishan Kishan, Deepak Chahar and Shreyas Iyer earn the biggest bucks

Shreyas Iyer was expected to be one of the big draws at the mega 2022 IPL auction, and he was – becoming the first to cross the INR 10 crore barrier, a fervent bidding war between a number of teams ending with the middle-order batter and potential captaincy candidate going to Kolkata Knight Riders for INR 12.25 crore (USD 1.6 million approx.).

Punjab Kings, who started the auction with the biggest purse of the ten teams, splurging straightaway as the marquee players went under the hammer. They bought Shikhar Dhawan and Kagiso Rabada for INR 8.25 crore (USD 1.1 million approx.) and INR 9.25 crore (USD 1.23 million approx.) respectively. Delhi Capitals were excited bidders early on, but dropped out of the race for Dhawan and Rabada, as well as Iyer and R Ashwin, all of whom were part of their roster till the last cycle.

In other early updates, Kolkata Knight Riders kept the paddle up for Pat Cummins, buying back their pace spearhead for INR 7.25 crore (USD 966,000 approx.), while Ashwin was sold to Rajasthan Royals for INR 5 crore (USD 666,000 approx.), the team also fighting off the competition to get hold of Trent Boult for INR 8 crore (USD 1 million approx.).