Even before the mega auction of IPL 2028, players have started creating problems for the franchises. According to reports, some big players have fixed their price up to Rs 40 crore. These players clearly say that if the franchises want to retain them in their team, then they will have to spend at least Rs 40 crore. If this does not happen, they would prefer to enter the auction. If this happens, then a new chapter can begin in the history of IPL regarding the price of players.
Actually, in the mega auction of IPL 2025, Rishabh Pant was sold for Rs 27 crore, while Shreyas Iyer was bought by Punjab Kings for Rs 26.75 crore. At that time the total budget of all the teams was Rs 120 crore. By spending such a huge amount on a player, the franchises had broken old records. But now the players are eyeing the mega auction of 2028, where the total budget of the teams is expected to increase to Rs 150 crore. This is the reason why the demand of the players has also increased and they are talking about a price of up to Rs 40 crore.
The mathematics of the players is also very clear. When Rs 27 crore can be spent on a single player in a total budget of Rs 120 crore, why not Rs 40 crore in a budget of Rs 150 crore? However, this demand from players has increased the concern of those franchises whose entire team revolves around a few selected big players.
The biggest example of this is Mumbai Indians. Last time, Mumbai had retained big players like Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, Hardik Pandya, Suryakumar Yadav and Tilak Verma in its team. Bumrah got Rs 18 crore, while Hardik, Suryakumar and Rohit got Rs 16.30 crore per player. At the same time, Tilak Verma was given Rs 8 crore. According to the rules of retaining players of the Board of Control for Cricket in India at that time, Rs 75 crore was deducted from the total budget of Mumbai by keeping five players in the team.
Now imagine, if every big player starts quoting his price as Rs 30 to 40 crore, then how difficult it will be for the franchises to retain all their big players in the team. On one hand, teams will have to save their old players, while on the other hand, they will have to keep sufficient budget to buy new players. In such a situation, the teams will have a big challenge to create a balance between the players.
However, there is no official confirmation yet regarding the total budget of Rs 150 crore in the 2028 mega auction. At the same time, a player asking for Rs 40 crore and actually getting this amount are two different things. It is believed that any one player can get Rs 30 to 35 crores, but at present it seems difficult to cross the figure of Rs 40 crores.
Still, if a player has the ability to captain and can single-handedly change the course of a match, his value can skyrocket. Jasprit Bumrah can be the biggest name in this matter. If Bumrah enters the mega auction of 2028, it is possible that all the old records of money will be broken. In such a situation, the biggest question is whether IPL franchises will show the courage to spend Rs 40 crore on one of their players?