Rishabh Pant and Shreyas Iyer fetch record bids

Resurrected generational talent Rishabh Pant pipped Shreyas Iyer to become the costliest buy in IPL's history with a Rs 27 crore winning bid from Lucknow Super Giants, while Venkatesh Iyer was the surprise show-stopper as teams expectedly went the extra mile for marquee Indian players at the mega auction here on Sunday.

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Shreyas, who captained the Kolkata Knight Riders to the title earlier this year, and Delhi Capitals' icon Pant, reaped the benefits of making themselves available at the auction following differences with their respective teams.

Venkatesh was also a part of Shreyas' triumphant KKR outfit and the franchise had to pay a whopping Rs 23.75 crore to bring him back after not retaining him.

The batting all-rounder, who has become an integral part of the KKR setup over the years, gained from an intense bidding battle between the Kolkata side and Royal Challengers Bengaluru to end with a massive sum.

Shreyas, on the other hand, was the first one to surpass Mitchell Starc as the IPL's most expensive buy with cash-heavy Punjab Kings shelling out Rs 26.75 crore for their potential captain before Pant overtook the fellow Indian by attracting Rs 25 lakh more from LSG.

Former DC teammates Shreyas and Pant have had to deal with adversity in the past couple of years but have shown remarkable resilience and courage to bounce back.

Pant beat all odds to make a successful comeback after a life-threatening car accident in 2022 while Shreyas put behind his exclusion from the BCCI central contracts list to lead KKR to their third IPL trophy earlier this year.