Hazlewood tops list of Aussies sold at IPL auction

More than A$12 million was spent on 13 Australian players across two days of the 2025 IPL 'mega-auction' with Josh Hazlewood's A$2.29m pricetag on the opening night the most expensive buy, but there was no interest in David Warner or Steve Smith. 

It was the lowest figure spent on Australian players at the event since the auction for the 2019 tournament most opted out of due to a conflict with that year's ODI World Cup.

Pat Cummins remains the highest-earning Australian at the IPL, having been retained by his Sunrisers Hyderabad franchise on his A$3.7m fee, and the franshise also reatined Travis Head for A$1.2m.

With Warner going unsold twice, as well as Smith, this year's auction represented something of a changing of the guard in Australian talent at the T20 tournament, with emerging Australian internationals such as Aaron Hardie and Xavier Bartlett earning their first IPL gigs, while batting dynamo Jake Fraser-McGurk earned a massive A$1.65m payday on Sunday night. 

The Ricky Ponting coached Punjab Kings picked up five Australians, with Marcus Stoinis and Glenn Maxwell collected on the first night, before adding Josh Inglis, Hardie and Bartlett on Monday night.

Australia's first-choice white-ball keeper-bat Inglis was the first Australian to go under the hammer on the second night, picked up for A$476,000 (INR 2.6 crore). However, fellow wicketkeepers Alex Carey and Josh Phillipe had no takers in the room.

In the accelerated auction after the lunch break, Tim David was picked by RCB for approximately A$550,000 (INR 3 crore), a figure about one-third of the price Mumbai paid for him at the last 'mega auction' in 2022. David, who played the past three seasons for Mumbai , will be back with his original IPL side, for whom he played a solitary game in 2021.

Spencer Johnson, who was picked by reigning champions Kolkata Knight Riders, also received a paycut despite his recent great showing against Pakistan in the recently concluded T20 series. The left-arm quick was bought for A$510,000 (INR 2.8 crore), significantly less than A$1.78m he took home after last year's auction, where he was bought by Gujarat Titans.

Fellow fast bowler Nathan Ellis moved to the Chennai Super Kings for A$366,000 after Ponting's Punjab Kings backed out of using their Right to Match option. The Kings then bought both Hardie (A$230,000) and Bartlett (A$147,000).

The surprise packet of the night was 13-year-old Vaibhav Suryavanshi, who was sold for A$200,000 to Rajasthan Royals. The youngster, who made his debut in India's domestic Ranji Trophy at 12, hit a 58-ball hundred against Australia U19s in a red-ball contest in October, but made one and three in his other innings in the two-match series.

On Sunday, Hazlewood had more than doubled his IPL auction price to be the most expensive Australian buy of the first night of the IPL auction for 2025.

Hazlewood, who had skipped last year's tournament for the birth of his first child, was snapped up by Royal Challengers Bengaluru for A$2.29 million (INR 12.5 crore) to outstrip the price for Aussie T20 teammates at the event in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

Hazlewood's price paled in comparison to the most expensive buy of the night, India wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant, who went for an eye-watering A$4.92m (INR 27 crore) to the Lucknow Super Giants. 

Pant's purchase broke the previous record set only a few minutes earlier when the Punjab Kings shelled out A$4.87m (INR 26.75 crore) for Shreyas Iyer. 

While Hazlewood was the most expensive Australian buy on the night, his A$2.29m price tag ranks ninth overall in the all-time highest Aussie IPL purchases, behind the A$4.43m Kolkata Knight Riders shelled out for Mitchell Starc last year.

This year, Mitchell Starc was one of the first players to sell with the left-arm quick finding a new home at the Delhi Capitals for A$2.14m (INR 11.75 crore), less than half the price paid for him last year which was at the time a record.

Marcus Stoinis was sold to Ponting's Punjab Kings for A$2m (INR 11 crore) while rising star Jake Fraser-McGurk was sold to the Capitals for A$1.65m (INR 9 crore) after the franchise which he starred for last year used their right-to-match option to thwart an attempt by Ponting's Kings to steal him. 

In a remarkable rise, Fraser-McGurk gets his big payday after going unsold at last year's auction before he was eventually picked up by the Capitals for A$91,000 (INR 50 lakhs) for his first crack in the competition.

Glenn Maxwell will link up with his Melbourne Stars teammate Stoinis at the Kings after they snapped him up for A$765,000 (INR 4.2 crore) and Australia allrounder Mitchell Marsh was picked up by the Lucknow Super Giants for 3.4 crore (620,000). 

Retired from international cricket and now a T20 gun for hire, new Fox Cricket commentator David Warner went unsold in the auction.

In other top buys, England keeper-batter Jos Buttler was the most expensive non-Indian player sold at the auction, going to Gujarat Titans for A$2.88m INR 15.75 crore). Of players currently in action for India in Border-Gavaskar Trophy series in Australia, KL Rahul was sold the Capitals for A$2.55m (INR 14 crore) and Mohammed Siraj went to the Titans for A$2.23m (INR 12.25 crore).

Australians at IPL 2025

Chennai Super Kings: Nathan Ellis ($365k)

Delhi Capitals: Mitch Starc ($2.15m), Jake Fraser-McGurk ($1.65m)

Kolkata Knight Riders: Spencer Johnson ($510k)

Lucknow Super Giants: Justin Langer (coach), Mitch Marsh ($623k)

Punjab Kings: Ricky Ponting (coach), Marcus Stoinis ($2m), Glenn Maxwell ($770k), Josh Inglis ($475k), Aaron Hardie ($228k), Xavier Bartlett ($146k)

Royal Challengers Bengaluru: Josh Hazlewood ($2.29m), Tim David ($547k)

Sunrisers Hyderabad: Pat Cummins ($3.7m), Travis Head ($1.2m), Adam Zampa ($440k)