No pay hike for Green despite record IPL Auction bid

Cameron Green has broken Mitchell Starc's record to become the most expensive overseas player in Indian Premier League history, while Steve Smith couldn't even attract a single bid

The Australian Test allrounder's bank account will only be credited with A$3 million out of the Kolkata Knight Riders' winning bid of A$4.27m (INR 25.2cr) at Thursday's IPL Auction in Abu Dhabi due to a new rule that has put a ceiling of INR 18 crore on the payout to non-Indian players.

Fluctuations in currency conversation rates mean Green will receive a smaller dollar value than what he did in 2023 when the Mumbai Indians bought him for INR 17.5cr, which at that time amounted to A$3.15 million.

Mumbai was again the first side to raise the paddle for the West Australian but backed out when the bidding heated up.

Rajasthan Royals and Chennai Super Kings also showed interest in securing Green's services, before KKR ultimately emerged the winning party.

An administratrive error from his manager to list him as a batter worked in Green's favour as it landed him in the first set of players to come up in the auction.

But after the 26-year-old clarified in Adelaide that he was fully available to bowl in the competition, having recovered from a back surgery, the IPL franchises shed the inhibition to bid big to overshoot the INR 18 cr threshold.

KKR will have to pay the excess amount of more than a million dollars from their winning bid for Green towards the BCCI's 'player development program'.

The franchise had come into the auction with the most number of spots to fill in their squad for 2026 after letting go of more than half their side from the last season. They also had the biggest purse of all sides, with INR 64.3cr (A$10.9m) available to be spent.

That KKR would go hard to secure Green's services was foreseeable after they parted ways with big-hitting allrounder Andre Russell after an 11-year association.

In taking the bid for him to INR 25.2cr, the franchise overshadowed the INR 24.75cr they had shelled out for Starc two years ago.

But Smith, who has made it his goal to play T20 cricket for Australia at the LA28 Olympic Games, headed a list of Aussies who went unsold, in his case he did not even come up for offer with none of the teams requesting to bid on him. It's the third time Smith has gone unsold at the IPL Auction, having last featured in the tournament in 2021. 

Unlike Green, whose deal was one of the first completed, Josh Inglis had to wait until approaching 2am Adelaide time to discover his fate: bought by Lucknow Super Giants for A$1.5m (INR 8.6cr). 

"He adds lot to our team, especially with our new power coach Andre Russell, very nice to have a young allrounder," said KKR's CEO Venky Mysore of Green.

"Him having had IPL experience, we know what he does with bat and ball. Couldn't be happier."

Green previously played for Mumbai Indians and ​Royal ​Challengers Bengaluru but ​missed the 2025 season ​after back surgery, 

In 29 IPL matches he has averaged 41.6 with the bat at a strike rate of 153.7, with a top score of 100 not out, while he's taken 16 wickets at 41.5 and an economy rate of 9.07.

Starc, now with Delhi Capitals, was not in this year's auction. He is one of 10 Australians already retained, along with Test teammates Pat Cummins and Travis Head, both at Sunrisers Hyderabad, while Josh Hazlewood remains with Royal Challengers Bengaluru.

Four other Australians were also recruited. Ricky Ponting's Punjab Kings added Ben Dwarshuis (A$725,000) and Cooper Connolly (A$330,000) to their coterie of Aussies. Matt Short (A$250,000) joined Chennai and Hyderabad made Jack Edwards (A$500,000) the only uncapped overseas hire. 

That brought to 16 the number of Australian players involved in the 19th edition of the IPL, which begins on March 26, with several others among coaching staff, notably Ponting and Justin Langer.

- with AAP

Australians at the IPL in 2026

Chennai Super Kings: Nathan Ellis, Matt Short, Mike Hussey (batting coach).

Delhi Capitals: Mitch Starc, Matthew Mott (asst coach).

Kolkata Knight Riders: Cameron Green.

Lucknow Super Giants: Mitch Marsh, Justin Langer (coach).

Punjab Kings: Marcus Stoinis, Mitch Owen, Xavier Bartlett, Cooper Connolly, Ben Dwarshuis, Ricky Ponting (coach), Brad Haddin (asst coach).

Royal Challengers Bengaluru: Josh Hazlewood, Tim David.

Sunrisers Hyderabad: Pat Cummins, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Jack Edwards.

Unsold at auction: Steve Smith, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Spencer Johnson, Sean Abbott, Riley Meredith, Will Sutherland, Jhye Richardson, Daniel Sams, Ben McDermott, Beau Webster, Jason Behrendorff, Wes Agar, Billy Stanlake.