Proteas speedster Kagiso Rabada celebrates a wicket against England. FILE - Proteas speedster Kagiso Rabada was the most expensive South African player at the 2025 Indian Premier League auction. Picture: Chandan Khanna / AFP
While Indian wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant got all the headlines after becoming the most expensive player in Indian Premier League (IPL) history, it was quite a good Sunday for the South Africans at the auction.
Pant was sold to the Lucknow Super Giants for a record $3.2 million (R58 million) at the lucrative Twenty20 tournament auction, which is being held in Saudi Arabia.
Pant has overtaken Proteas star Heinrich Klaasen as the most expensive player in IPL history, after the Sunrisers Hyderabad had earlier splashed out R48 million on the South African basher for him to stay put.
Proteas speedster Kagiso Rabada was the most sought after the South African during the auction and was sold to the Gujurat Titans for just under R22 million.
KG RABADA will be a @gujarat_titans in next season's #TATAIPL .
— Zaahier Adams (@ZaahierAdams) November 24, 2024
Sold for 10.75m crore ($1.2m)
That's R21,786,792.00 million !!! #TATAIPLAuction pic.twitter.com/Cg1qOLOHqk
Rabada was joined at the Gujurat Titans by England white-ball captain Jos Buttler, who went for $1.87 million during the auction.
The Lucknow Super Giants snapped up Proteas left-hander David Miller for R16 million after the Gujurat Titans decided not to retain the big-hitting South African.
Miller will have his Proteas white-ball captain Aiden Markram with him at the Super Giants after the right-hander was bought for R4 million after leading the Sunrisers last season.
Proteas wicket-keeper batsman Quinton de Kock, who last played for his country at the T20 World Cup in the West Indies, was bought for a handsome R7.7 million by the Kolkata Knight Riders.
De Kock will be joined at KKR by Proteas fast bowler Anrich Nortje, who was snapped up the franchise for around R14 million.
The IPL has generated billions in revenue since its inception in 2008, turning the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) into one of the richest governing bodies in sport.
In June 2022 it sold the broadcast rights for five IPL seasons to global media giants for $6.2 billion.
The IPL is a huge earner for Indian cricket and the tournament makes more than $11 billion for the economy each year.
The pioneering IPL helped make Twenty20 cricket hugely popular, spawning copycat events worldwide.
Dates for next year's IPL have not been released but seasons usually run from March to May.
Additional reporting by AFP
@JohnGoliath82