2021 IPL Auction: Who Will Be Playing for Who This Year?

The 2021 IPL auction took place on the 18th of February 2021 in Chennai and records were broken from the previous 2020 IPL auction. Over 1100 players put their names into the hat for the 2021 IPL auction, and 292 of these were shortlisted by the BCCI. For IPL betting purposes, 130 players were called for the 2021 IPL auction, with 57 being sold and 73 players remaining unsold.

The Most Expensive Players at the 2021 IPL Auction

All men might be born equal, but there seems to be one exception to this, cricketers. Some cricketers are sought after much more than others, and this can be seen in the prices that teams are willing to pay to create the strongest IPL team to win the league. We are going to take a look at five of the most expensive players that were sold at the 2021 IPL auction, as this will very much inform our IPL predictions in the coming tournament.

Chris Morris - South African All-Rounder

In the IPL 2020 auction, Morris was the third most expensive player when he bought by the Royal Challengers Bangalore for ten crores. This time around, he went two steps better as he was bought by the Rajasthan Royals for 16.25 crore, making him the most expensive player in the history of the Indian Premier League. Morris, as can be seen from his price tag, is seen by many as one of the best all-rounders in the world whose presence in the match is a great indicator for online cricket betting. Over the years, he has also played for the Chennai Super Kings and the Delhi Capitals.

Kyle Jamieson - Kiwi Fast-Medium Bowler

At every auction for the Indian Premier League there is a surprise high bid. For example, at the IPL 2020 auction it was Sheldon Cottrell, and this year it was Kyle Jamieson who surprised everyone when the Royal Challengers Bangalore bought him for 15 crores. To give you an idea as to how unexpected this was, Jamieson himself was originally planning to sleep throughout the auction as he did not predict that anyone would be interested in his services. He definitely did not expect there to be a bidding war between three teams for his services. With that amount of money spent on him, he will definitely be feeling the pressure from favorable match predictions today to perform.

Glenn Maxwell - Australian All-Rounder

Teams are always looking out for top quality all-rounders and after being the second most expensive player at the IPL 2020 auction, he was the third most expensive player at the 2021 IPL auction. Maxwell was bought by the Royal Challengers Bangalore for a fee of 14.25 crore. He has previously played for the Mumbai Indians, Delhi Capitals, Delhi Daredevils, and Kings XI Punjab. At the IPL 2020 auction, he was sold for 10.75 crores, which just goes to show that he is becoming more valuable with age - like a fine wine.

Jhye Richardson - Australian Fast Bowler

Big Bash League betting fans will remember Richardson taking the most wickets for the Perth Scorchers in the recently finished tournament - he took 29 wickets in 17 games with a 16.31 average. His performances throughout the competition caught the eye of many IPL betting sites and he was snapped up by the Punjab Kings for 14 crore. The Delhi Capitals and the Royal Challengers Bangalore were also after his services and there was a bit of a bidding war. He will now have a lot of pressure to bowl well throughout the tournament, and we are sure that he will do exactly that.

Krishnappa Gowtham - Indian All-Rounder

Gowtham was signed by the Chennai Super Kings for 9.25 crore, which makes him the most expensive uncapped Indian player to ever play in the IPL. There was a bidding war between the Chennai Super Kings, Sunrisers Hyderabad, and the Kolkata Knight Riders, but the former won out in the end. He has played in the IPL before, but he has never been bought for such a large amount of money. He will get to play alongside some Indian super stars such as Suresh Raina and MS Dhoni - this will definitely be a dream come true for Gowtham.

The Squad for Each IPL Team

The full 2021 squad for all eight IPL teams is shown on the tables below:

Chennai Super Kings

Players that were bought during the 2021 auction: Moeen Ali, Krishnappa Gowtham, Cheteshwar Pujara, Harishankar Reddy, C. Hari Nishanth, and Bhagath Verma.

Delhi Capitals

Players that were bought during the 2021 auction: Steve Smith, Ripal Patel, Umesh Yadav, Vishnu Vinod, M. Siddharth, Lukman Meriwala, Sam Billings, and Tom Curran.

Kolkata Knight Riders

Players that were bought during the 2021 auction: Sheldon Jackson, Shakib Al Hassan, Vaibhav Arora, Harbhajan Singh, Ben Cutting, Karun Nair, Pawan Negi, Venkatesh Iyer.

Mumbai Indians

Players that were brought during the 2021 auction: Nathan Coulter-Nile, Adam Milne, James Neesham, Piyush Chawla, Marco Jansen, Yudhvir Singh, and Arjun Tendulkar.

Punjab Kings

Players that were brought during the 2021 auction: Riley Meredith, Dawid Malan. Jhye Richardson, Shahrukh Khan, Jalaj Saxena, Moises Henriques, Saurabh Kumar, Utkarsh Singh, and Fabian Allen.

Rajasthan Royals

Players that were bought during the 2021 auction: Chris Morris, Mustafizur Rahman, Chetan Sakaria. Liam Livingstone, KC Cariappa, Akash Singh, and Kuldip Yadav.

Royal Challengers Bangalore

Players that were brought during the 2021 auction: Glenn Maxwell, Sachin Baby, Kyle Jamieson, Daniel Christian, Rajat Patidar, Mohammed Azharuddeen, KS Bharat, and Suyash Prabhudessai.

Sunrisers Hyderabad

Players that were bought during the 2021 auction: Kedar Jadhav, Jagadeesha Suchith, and M Ur-Rahman

Which Player Earns the Most from Each IPL Team?

Not only do players get bought for a staggering amount of money each year, but they also get huge wages for playing in the competition. Obviously, like with all sport, some cricketers will pick up much more money than their teammates. Below we are going to have a look at the player that will earn the most for each team at the 2021 IPL.

Chennai Super Kings - MS Dhoni

MS Dhoni captained the Indian national team in limited-overs cricket for nearly a decade and was the Test captain for six years. A man with such experience and talent to boot comes at a hefty price - he will pick up 15 crores for his involvement in the tournament. In the 2020 IPL Dhoni scored 200 runs in 14 games.

Mumbai Indians - Rohit Sharma

Sharma has had a fantastic career for the Indian national team and his performances over the years for his national side has helped him earn some fantastic wages in the IPL. To give you an idea of just how well he has done for India, he has scored 9,115 runs in 224 ODI matches with a 49.27 average. In 108 T20I matches, he has hit 2,773 words with an average of 32.6. For his performances in the 2021 tournament, he is going to earn himself 15 crores. In the 2020 IPL, Sharma played 12 matches and scored 332 runs.

Royal Challengers Bangalore - Virat Kohli

Virat Kohli captains India in all three formats of the game and is one of the best batsmen in the world at this moment in time. Being one of the best batsmen in the world means that you can command a huge fee, and this is exactly what he does. For his involvement in the IPL in 2021, he is going to collect 17 crores. In last year's IPL, Kohli scored 466 runs in the 15 matches that he played.

Kolkata Knight Riders - Pat Cummins

Cummins is one of the best fast bowlers in the world at the moment and this means that he can command a hefty fee for his services at the IPL. To add to his bowling skills, he is also pretty handy with the bat lower down the order. For his services this year, the Kolkata Knight Riders are going to pay him 15.5 crore. He played in 14 matches last year and picked up 12 wickets in 14 games. He also chipped in with 146 handy runs down the order.

Sunrisers Hyderabad - David Warner

There are not many cricket fans out there that like Warner. Well apart from Australians. But it cannot be denied that he is an extremely talented cricketer. When he is in form, he can get his team off to an absolute flyer and this type of talent comes at a price. The Sunrisers Hyderabad will pay Warner 12.5 crore for his services this year. In the 2020 IPL, he scored a decent 548 runs in 16 games.

Rajasthan Royals - Ben Stokes

Stokes is one of the best all-rounders in world cricket, and when he is on fire there really is no better player to watch, apart from maybe Jos Buttler. He has the ability to turn a game on its head in a matter of overs, both with the bat and the ball. This is why cricket fans all over the world love to watch him play. Such great service does not come cheap, and he will be paid 12.5 crore for his talent at the 2021 IPL.

Punjab Kings - Lokesh Rahul

KL Rahul is a regular in the Indian national team in all three formats and will be so for many years to come. In the 42 T20I matches that he has played for India, he has scored 1,127 runs with a 45.65 average. He is a very talented opening batsman and keeps wicket extremely well too, which is important since every run counts in this format of the game. To give you an idea of just how good he can be, he smashed 670 runs in 14 games at the 2020 IPL. For his services, he is going to receive 11 crore.

Delhi Capitals - Rishabh Pant

Pant has a bright future ahead of him for the Indian national team with many fans considering him to be the next MS Dhoni. He is very good behind the stumps and can be devastating with the bat when he is on fire. His ability with the bat can be seen from the fact that he scored 343 runs in 14 games.

Unsold Players

While the players that we have mentioned above will be getting big sums of money added to their bank accounts, there are plenty of players who were not so lucky at the 2021 auction. Below we have given you a list of some household names that you will not see at the IPL this year because nobody wanted their services.

• Jason Roy
• Liam Plunkett
• Morne Morkel
• Alex Hales
• Adil Rashid
• Alex Carey
• David Willey
• Aaron Finch
• James Faulkner
• Darren Bravo
• Tim Southee
• Carlos Braithwaite
• Ravi Bopara
• Colin Munro
• Martin Guptill
• Sean Abbott
• Wayne Parnell
• Neil Wagner

If you would like more information about the 2021 Indian Premier League auction, then we recommend that you take a look at the official IPL auction site. They were broadcasting the auction live from their site as it was taking place in Chennai.