IPL 2015 Mini Auction

Yuvraj again

A year after Bangalore paid ₹14 crore for him, Yuvraj Singh was back in the auction and went for more: Delhi Daredevils paid ₹16 crore, a record that stood for six years. Dinesh Karthik, also released after one expensive season, went to Bangalore for ₹10.5 crore. Both prices reflected how few proven Indian batters reached the auction at all, rather than what either had done the season before.

Delhi keeps spending

Delhi again spent more than any other franchise, on Yuvraj, Angelo Mathews, Zaheer Khan and Amit Mishra among others, and again finished in the bottom half. Rajasthan and Punjab spent the least, and the eventual champions Mumbai not much more. Mumbai lost four of their first five matches, then won the title with a squad that barely changed at this auction.

The buy that lasted

The most expensive uncapped player was Shreyas Iyer, bought by Delhi for ₹2.6 crore. He was named the season's emerging player, later captained Delhi to their first final, and a decade later was one of the most expensive players ever sold, which the 2025 auction page records. Among the unsold was Hashim Amla, then one of the best batters in the world in other formats.

Reading the numbers

Delhi spent more than twice as much as any other franchise, and nearly half the money in the room. Overseas players took under two fifths of it, an unusually low share for a mini auction, because the three biggest prices, Yuvraj, Karthik and Mathews, included two Indian batters.

Mumbai, in the middle of the spending table, won the title, and Delhi, who had outspent everyone, again missed the playoffs. The unsold list again included players of real quality, Hashim Amla, Brad Haddin and Cameron White among them, whom franchises with settled overseas slots simply had no room for.