On auction day, Aussie all-rounder Cameron Green’s name could trigger the kind of frenzy that usually ends with a headline number. Kolkata Knight Riders and Chennai Super Kings have the money, the need, and the incentive. An overseas fast-bowling allrounder in his mid-20s, proven in the IPL, entering the auction with no injury cloud. On the face of it, Rs. 30 crore does not sound absurd.

Except, Green, who has entered the auction at a base price of Rs. 2 crore, cannot be paid that much. Not even close.

Even if the bidding shoots past Rs. 20 crore, Green’s personal payday is capped. At Rs. 18 crore.

Ahead of the 2025 mega auction, the IPL introduced a “maximum fee” cap for overseas players, a response to a pattern franchises had grown increasingly uncomfortable with. Several high-profile overseas players had begun skipping mega auctions and reappearing only at mini auctions, where scarcity and desperation drove prices to unsustainable levels.

The league stepped in. The logic was simple: no overseas player should earn more than the highest retention slab available to franchises. That figure currently stands at Rs. 18 crore.

So what happens if teams bid higher anyway?

They can. The auction can still escalate. The final bid amount will be deducted in full from the franchise’s purse. But the player does not receive anything above the cap. The excess money does not vanish either. The IPL has said it will be redirected towards BCCI-run player welfare programmes.

In other words, a Rs. 30-crore bid for Green would cost a team Rs. 30 crore, but Green himself would still walk away with Rs. 18 crore.

For Indian players, none of this applies. If an Indian cricketer attracts a Rs. 25-crore bid, he gets every rupee of it.

Published on Dec 16, 2025