IPL 2023 auction was a one-day affair but nothing was mini considering the player prices or the viewership. According to the reports by Star Sports, the mini-auction viewership was 35% more than the IPL 2022 mega auction. It hit a total of 50 million audiences.
In the IPL Mini Auction, Sam Curran became the most expensive buy of all time. He was bought by Punjab Kings for Rs 18.50 crore. The franchise competed with Rajasthan Royals, Chennai Super Kings, Lucknow Super Giants, and Punjab Kings for grabbing Curran. Earlier, in 2021, Rajasthan Royals made the most expensive buys of all time, which was Chris Moris. The cricketer has bagged Rs 16.25 crore.
Others who got bought for expensive prices in the auction were Cameron green (17.5 Crore- Mumbai Indians), and Ben Stokes (16.25 Crores- Chennai Super Kings).
SunRisers Hyderabad bought Mayank Agarwal for Rs 8.25 crore and his base price was set at 1 crore. Gujarat Titans bought Kane Williamson for Rs 2 crores. Experienced batter Ajinkya Rahane who reduced his base price to 50 lacks was bought by CSK for the same amount. Jason Holder became a part of Rajasthan Royals for Rs.5.75 crores. Prominent names who remained unsold were Rilee Rossou and Shakib-Al-Hasan.
According to the broadcaster, the auction drew tremendous television audiences in major cities and important markets including Bangalore, Hyderabad, Mumbai, and Gujarat. Male and female audiences in metropolitan areas and megacities who are also wealthy contributed significantly to the auction’s strong viewership.
Star Sports broadcast the auction in English, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, and Kannada to its audience. On Twitter, Star Sports’ social media campaign #AuctionStar peaked at #3 and remained in the top 10 trends the whole time the auction was taking place.
The next season for IPL will be starting in the third week of March 2023.
