IPL Auction 2026 lit up the Indian Premier League as Prashant Veer and Kartik Sharma became joint most expensive uncapped players

Most expensive uncapped player in IPL 2026 is a title shared by two young cricketers from the Chennai Super Kings squad. Prashant Veer and Kartik Sharma each cost Rs 14.20 crore at the IPL 2026 mini auction in Abu Dhabi on 16 December 2025, and the pair smashed a record that had stood for four years. The old mark belonged to Avesh Khan at Rs 10 crore, and no uncapped player had ever crossed that line before one December afternoon changed the value of domestic talent in the league. Chennai spent Rs 28.40 crore on the two players in a single day, close to 70 per cent of the auction purse of the franchise. This page records the full story: the record bids, the all-time list of the costliest uncapped buys in IPL history, the first season of the two record men in yellow, and the auction that will test the record next.

From my experience following the IPL closely, IPL Auction 2026 turned historic when Prashant Veer became the most expensive uncapped player in IPL Auction history after Chennai Super Kings (CSK) bought him for Rs 14.2 crores, and soon Kartik Sharma joined him in the CSK squad at the same price, making them joint most expensive uncapped players, a record that reshaped IPL history; the auction, player bidding, franchises, joint record, salary, contract, player price, auction list, CSK squad dynamics, Tuesday’s IPL news, Delhi Capitals signing of Auqib Nabi for Rs 8.40 crores as joint seventh, and the high-stakes player valuation all combined to make this cricket auction an unforgettable league moment.

Most Expensive Uncapped Player in IPL 2026: The All-Time Record List

• Prashant Veer – bought by Chennai Super Kings for Rs 14.2 crore, becoming one of the joint most expensive uncapped players in IPL auction history.
• Kartik Sharma – also signed by Chennai Super Kings for Rs 14.2 crore, matching Prashant’s record bid.
• Avesh Khan – secured by Lucknow Super Giants for Rs 10 crore at the 2022 mega auction.
• Krishnappa Gowtham – signed by Chennai Super Kings for Rs 9.25 crore during the 2021 season.
• Shahrukh Khan – bought by Punjab Kings for Rs 9 crore in the 2022 season.
• Rahul Tewatia – acquired by Gujarat Titans for Rs 9 crore in the 2022 season.
• Krunal Pandya – joined Mumbai Indians for Rs 8.8 crore.
• Auqib Nabi – Delhi Capitals, Rs 8.40 crore, IPL 2026 auction
• Varun Chakravarthy – Kings XI Punjab, Rs 8.40 crore, 2019

Read most most expensive player in Ipl

Update: The Record Men in IPL 2026 and the All-Time Uncapped List

The record was set at the IPL 2026 mini auction in Abu Dhabi on 16 December 2025, where 369 players went under the hammer. Prashant Veer, a 20-year-old left-arm spin-bowling all-rounder from Uttar Pradesh, arrived with a base price of Rs 30 lakh and hot form from the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, where he took nine wickets at an economy rate of 6.76 and scored his runs at a strike rate near 170. Kartik Sharma, a 19-year-old wicketkeeper batter from Rajasthan, carried the same base price and a reputation as one of the cleanest six hitters in domestic T20 cricket. The bidding for Sharma ran longest: Lucknow and Kolkata pushed the price high, Hyderabad entered late at Rs 14 crore, and Chennai closed the deal at Rs 14.20 crore. Chennai won the race for Veer at the same figure, and head coach Stephen Fleming called the pair T20 babies, young players who have grown up with the format and play without fear.

The size of the spend was a statement about the direction of the franchise. Chennai had finished fifth in IPL 2024 and last in IPL 2025 with only four wins, and the trade for Sanju Samson from Rajasthan Royals had already signalled a rebuild around youth. The two record buys took that rebuild further than any franchise had gone before. Chennai had spent more on a single player only once, the Rs 16.25 crore paid for Ben Stokes in 2023, and no uncapped Indian had ever crossed Rs 10 crore at an IPL auction. Wisden calculated that the pair took close to 70 per cent of the auction purse of Chennai, a share no team had ever handed to uncapped talent.

An uncapped player is a cricketer who has never played for the national team, and the money follows scarcity. Every playing eleven in the league carries at least seven Indian players, so proven domestic talent in the hardest roles commands a premium at auction. A left-arm spin-bowling all-rounder who finishes innings and a wicketkeeper batter who hits sixes from ball one are two of the rarest profiles in Indian cricket. Veer and Sharma filled one each, at an age where a franchise can build a decade around them. That is why two players without a single international appearance outpriced almost every capped name on the day.

The same afternoon lifted one more uncapped name into the all-time list. Auqib Nabi, a fast bowler from Jammu and Kashmir, sparked a bidding war between Delhi Capitals and Sunrisers Hyderabad, and Delhi won the contest at Rs 8.40 crore. The price placed the pacer joint seventh on the all-time uncapped list, level with the Rs 8.40 crore that Kings XI Punjab paid for Varun Chakravarthy in 2019. Cameron Green became the costliest overseas player in IPL history at Rs 25.20 crore for Kolkata Knight Riders on the same day, and the combined Rs 28.40 crore for the Chennai pair even passed the price of the costliest player of the entire auction. No franchise had ever spent Rs 28.40 crore on two uncapped players in one auction, and the record line of the league moved in a single afternoon.

The line of record holders shows how fast the market has moved. Varun Chakravarthy set the pace at Rs 8.40 crore in 2019, Krishnappa Gowtham raised the mark to Rs 9.25 crore with Chennai in 2021, and Avesh Khan broke the Rs 10 crore barrier with Lucknow Super Giants in 2022. Shahrukh Khan and Rahul Tewatia each touched Rs 9 crore at the same 2022 mega auction, and Krunal Pandya had cost Mumbai Indians Rs 8.8 crore back in 2018. The Veer and Sharma deals did not edge past the old record. The pair jumped it by more than four crore, a rise of 42 per cent in one day, and the all-time list now carries three names from the 2026 auction in its top eight.

Abu Dhabi staged the IPL 2026 auction on 16 December 2025, making it the second straight IPL auction held outside India after Jeddah hosted the 2025 mega auction. The evening belonged to youth. The two winning bids for the most expensive uncapped player in IPL 2026, Rs 14.20 crore each for Prashant Veer and Kartik Sharma, beat the old uncapped record by Rs 4.20 crore, the biggest single jump the uncapped market has ever seen. Chennai paid more for the pair than any franchise had ever spent on two uncapped players in one auction.

The first season in yellow split the pair. Kartik Sharma played 11 matches and scored 295 runs at an average of 32.78 and a strike rate of 136.57, with two half centuries and a best of 71 from 42 balls against Lucknow Super Giants. His List A record carries 445 runs at an average of 55.62 with two hundreds, he had already made a hundred on first-class debut for Rajasthan with a best of 113, and that white-ball class surfaced once the season settled. The start was slow, with 58 runs in his first five innings, and the pressure of the price tag grew with every low score. The turn came at number four against Mumbai Indians on 2 May 2026, when an unbeaten 54 from 40 balls carried Chennai through the chase, and the 71 against Lucknow two weeks later confirmed the talent the scouts had chased.

Prashant Veer had the harder season. The all-rounder first rose with Noida Super Kings in the UP T20 League and carried a List A record of 10 wickets and 133 runs into the auction, and his Rs 14.20 crore price was more than 47 times his base price of Rs 30 lakh. He debuted against Punjab Kings at Chennai on 3 April 2026 with an unbeaten six, and played six matches in all, scoring 90 runs at an average of 45.00 with a best of 43, but Chennai barely used his bowling: two overs in the whole season, 25 runs and no wicket. Chennai finished eighth with six wins from 14 matches and missed the playoffs for the third straight season, so the record pair ended the year with promise shown in flashes and a point still to prove. The flashes keep coming in domestic cricket. In October 2026, Veer smashed four consecutive boundaries in the last over of a UP T20 League eliminator to bring up a fifty and carry his side home by one run. Both players remain uncapped at international level, and the record the pair share still stands.

The record now faces its first test. Franchises must submit the lists of retained and released players by 15 November 2026, and the IPL 2027 mini auction follows in Goa on 16 December 2026, with the full date story in the IPL 2027 auction report and the deadline detail in the retention deadline report on this site. The Goa event is the final mini auction of the current cycle and brings the auction back to India after three editions overseas in Dubai, Jeddah and Abu Dhabi. The squad picture of the record men sits in the CSK squad 2026 breakdown, the overall auction record of the league, capped and uncapped together, sits in the all-time most expensive player in IPL list, and every IPL story of the season sits in the IPL section of this site. Whether any uncapped name in Goa comes close to Rs 14.20 crore is the question the December auction will answer.

The all-time list of the most expensive uncapped buys in IPL auction history sits in one table.

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