IPL playerIndia2022 to 2026
Vaibhav Arora
On scorecards: VG Arora · Right-hand bat
Vaibhav Arora, a bowler, has played five IPL seasons for two franchises. One title came along the way.
The arrival
Vaibhav Arora arrived through the auction: Punjab Kings paid ₹2 cr, against a base price of ₹20 lakh. That debut came after going unsold once (2020).
That first season brought 5 matches, 5 runs and 3 wickets at 9.20 an over.
The peak
The best season was 2025, for Kolkata Knight Riders: 17 wickets at 10.12 runs an over, while the league's bowlers went for 9.48, with best figures of 3 for 29.
Franchise by franchise
2022, Punjab Kings. Bought at the 2022 auction for ₹2 cr. 5 matches and 3 wickets.
2023 to 2026, Kolkata Knight Riders. Bought at the 2023 auction for ₹60 lakh. 38 matches and 44 wickets; champions in 2024.
2 spells with two franchises in all. The longest was with Kolkata Knight Riders, 2023 to 2026.
How the wickets came
With the ball, 47 wickets in 876 deliveries, at 9.63 runs an over against a league rate of 9.31 for the same seasons: 0.32 an over more expensive than the typical bowler of the time, the price of a bowler who took wickets often.
35.3% of the balls Vaibhav Arora bowled were dots, a higher share than 54% of the 150 bowlers with 500 balls or more; a wicket came every 18.4 balls.
The fielding record: 11 catches and 3 run-outs.
At the auction
Vaibhav Arora has gone under the hammer five times, bought four times and left unsold once. The highest price was ₹2 cr, paid by Punjab Kings in 2022, more than 10 times the base price. The price climbed with the reputation: ₹20 lakh in 2021, ₹1.80 cr by 2025. Unsold in 2020, Vaibhav Arora was bought in 2021 by Kolkata Knight Riders. Being bought did not always mean playing: no match followed for Kolkata Knight Riders in 2021.
Seasons without an auction entry were played under a retention, a trade or a signing made outside the auction.
Where it stands
Vaibhav Arora has made 43 IPL appearances, the latest for Kolkata Knight Riders in 2026, and has won 1 player-of-the-match award.
Season by season
| Season | Team | M | Runs | HS | Avg | SR | 50/100 | Wkts | Econ | Best | Ct | POTM | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | Punjab Kings | 5 | 5 | 2* | 2.5 | 38.5 | 0/0 | 3 | 9.20 | 2/21 | 1 | ||
| 2023 | Kolkata Knight Riders | 5 | 3 | 2* | – | 150.0 | 0/0 | 5 | 8.76 | 2/30 | 3 | ||
| 2024 | Kolkata Knight Riders | 10 | 1 | 1* | – | 100.0 | 0/0 | 11 | 8.90 | 3/27 | 1 | Champions | |
| 2025 | Kolkata Knight Riders | 12 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | – | 0/0 | 17 | 10.12 | 3/29 | 4 | 1 | |
| 2026 | Kolkata Knight Riders | 11 | 1 | 1* | – | 33.3 | 0/0 | 11 | 10.26 | 2/24 | 2 |
Franchise journey
- Punjab Kings: 2022
- Kolkata Knight Riders: 2023 to 2026
Ball-by-ball detail
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Dot balls faced | 66.7% |
| Balls per four | 27 |
| Balls per six | 27 |
| Dot balls bowled | 35.3% |
| Balls per wicket | 18.4 |
| Catches | 11 |
| Run-outs | 3 |
| Stumpings | 0 |
At the auction
| Auction | Set | Base price | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | Fast Bowler | ₹20 lakh | Unsold |
| 2021 | UAL2 | ₹20 lakh | Sold to Kolkata Knight Riders for ₹20 lakh |
| 2022 | UFA1 | ₹20 lakh | Sold to Punjab Kings for ₹2 cr |
| 2023 | UFA1 | ₹20 lakh | Sold to Kolkata Knight Riders for ₹60 lakh |
| 2025 | UFA1 | ₹30 lakh | Sold to Kolkata Knight Riders for ₹1.80 cr |
Sources
- CricArcade IPL season statistics
- CricArcade IPL auction archive
- Kaggle IPL Complete Match Dataset 2008-2026, ball-by-ball, cross-checked against Cricsheet