5 biggest paycuts in IPL history:Rishabh Pant cut his salary by 44%, Venkatesh Iyer lost ₹16.75 crore by joining RCB

As grand as the glitz and glamour of IPL is, it is equally ruthless. Here, the value of players earning crores in one season can plummet to the ground the very next year. Recently, Rishabh Pant, who left Lucknow Super Giants to join Delhi Capitals, has seen a massive cut of ₹12 crore in his annual salary. Pant, who was the most expensive player in league history at ₹27 crore rupees, will now play for Delhi for only ₹15 crore. However, Pant is not the only player whose salary has seen such a significant drop. Many players before him have also had to face a big drop in their IPL salaries. Let’s know about five such players – Venkatesh Iyer – Suffered a loss of 17 crore rupees in the auction
In 2025, Kolkata Knight Riders bought all-rounder Venkatesh Iyer for ₹23.75 crore rupees. But he was released after just one season. In the mini-auction, Royal Challengers Bangalore bought him for only ₹7 crore rupees. This means there was a massive drop of about ₹17 crore in his price. Jhye Richardson – Injury ruined a multi-crore game In 2021, Punjab Kings showed faith by spending a large sum of ₹14 crore. However, injuries and continuous unavailability affected his price. In the 2023 auction, Mumbai Indians bought him for only ₹1.5 crore. Unfortunately, the Australian pacer could not play any match in that season due to injury. Mitchell Starc – Price halved even after making them champions Australian veteran Mitchell Starc was made the most expensive player in the IPL by Kolkata Knight Riders in 2024, paying ₹24.75 crore. Starc took five wickets in the playoffs and won the title. Despite this, in the next auction, Delhi included him in the team for only ₹11.75 crore. Jamieson – From 15 crore to base price due to Covid New Zealand’s tall fast bowler Kyle Jamieson was bid for ₹15 crore rupees by RCB in 2021. After this, due to COVID, he withdrew his name from the 2022 season. When he returned to the 2023 auction, Chennai bought him for his base price of ₹1 crore. Sam Curran – Value dropped by 87% in one year, played only 5 matches
England all-rounder Sam Curran was acquired by the Punjab Kings for ₹18.5 crore in 2024. He scored 270 runs and also took 16 wickets. Despite this, the team released him. Chennai bought him for ₹2.4 crore. This caused his salary to drop by up to 87%. Curran got to play only five matches that season.