MS Dhoni Could Have Gone For 36 Cr In IPL 2025 Auction; Here Is How

MS Dhoni for CSK [Source: @CricCrazyJohns/x.com]

The Indian Premier League saw its inception in 2008. Since then it has been a brilliant success story for the league. While we have seen cricketing brilliance from top stars on the field, we have also been witness to some dramatic rise of youngsters in the legaue.

Provding a universal ground to player all-round the world, the IPL has become one of the most successful and the richest sporting league in the world. One of the things that it introduced with its inception was the auction system to slot out players in the teams. 

What Is IPL Auction?

The IPL auction is an event where the players are bought by the franchises involved in the tournament by engaging in bidding wars for them. Each year the BCCI fixes a certain amount to be the purse of each franchise. In the latest edition of the IPL auction, i.e, the IPL 2025 auction each team was alloted INR 120 Cr in their purses. 

Who Is The Most Expensive Player In IPL Auction?

If we just look at the figures then Rishabh Pant stands as the most expensive player ever in IPL auction history. He was sold for INR 27 Cr to LSG in the IPL 2025 auction. However, the price of all the players have risen with time due to increase in the overall purse size of the franchises and in turn the soaring economy. So, even though figure wise Rishabh Pant is the most expensive player in IPL auction history deeper analysis will prove otherwise.

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How MS Dhoni Is The Most Expensive Player In IPL Auction History?

MS Dhoni went under the hammer during the auction ahead of IPL 2008. During the first edition of the tournament each team was allotted a salary cap of $5 Million Dollars, which as per the then exchange rate translates to INR 20.06 Cr. 

During the auction ahead of the first season of IPL, MS Dhoni was bought by CSK for a price of $1.5 Million Dollars, which when converted to INR amounts to around 6.018 Cr. This means that cost CSK 30% of their purse size. 

Now let us compare to the other players from the auction after that and find out how MS Dhoni still tops the list.

Players Who Had The Most Percenatge Cost Over The Years [Courtesy: Datawrapper]

We have considered the players who went for the highest price in each auction. For the final list only the players who cost over 20% have been taken into account. We can see that MS Dhoni cost CSK 30% of their purse size, which is still the most in the history. Thus MS Dhoni remains the most expensive player in the history of the IPL when we compare the precentage on the purse size.

Purse size of the teams in the years that have been considered in the figure - 

What Would Have Been Pick MS Dhoni's Price In IPL 2025 Auction?

The purse of each team for IPL 2025 auction was INR 120 Cr, 30% of which amounts to INR 36Cr. Also, notable is the fact that ahead of IPL 2028, teams like Mumbai Indians, Deccan Chargers, Royal Challengers Bengaluru, Kolkata Kninght Riders, Kings XI Punjab and Delhi Dare Devils had to spent a part of their sum on icon players. With that restriction not being there in IPL 2025, the teams might have bid harder for MS Dhoni and with the skill set that 2008's MS Dhoni would have brought, the price of the player could have gone over INR 40 Cr. 

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