Explained: Why Cameron Green Won’t Receive the Entire ₹25.20 Cr from KKR in IPL 2026?

Kolkata Knight Riders bought Cameron Green for a record Rs. 25.20 crore in the IPL 2026 mini-auction. With this, Cameron Green became the most expensive overseas player in IPL auction history, surpassing Mitchell Starc’s Rs. 24.75 crore record. But Green will not receive the full Rs. 25.20 crore, he will get only Rs. 18 crore due to IPL's new rule.

Cameron Green will get Rs. 18 crore, while extra Rs. 7.20 crore will go into the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) player welfare fund. This is all because of IPL’s “Maximum Fee Rule” for overseas players in mini auctions.

KKR and CSK entered the IPL 2026 Auction with a massive Rs. 64.30 crore and Rs. 43.40 crore. Interestingly, the Mumbai Indians, who had just Rs. 2.75 crore, started the first bid for Cameron Green, but later on, CSK and KKR entered the bid war, but in the end, KKR took Green for Rs. 25.20 crore.

What is the IPL “Maximum Fee Rule”?

BBCI introduced this rule last year, and it caps the salary of overseas players at mini-auctions, no matter how high the bidding goes.

As per the rule:

• The maximum salary an overseas player can get at the IPL mini-auction is Rs. 18 crore.
• Even if the final bid crosses Rs. 18 crore, the player cannot be paid more than the cap.
• This cap is aligned with the highest retention slab from the previous mega auction.
• But, Indian players have no cap; they will get the full bid amount.

Cameron Green Full BID-WAR

Cameron Green entered the IPL 2026 auction with a base price of Rs. 2 crore. Mumbai Indians started the bidding, then continued by Rajasthan Royals (RR) and Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR).

Kolkata Knight Riders was part of this bid from the very start, and Rajasthan Royals also pushed aggressively before dropping out at Rs. 13.60 crore. Then, Chennai Super Kings (CSK) entered the bidding, and both CSK and KKR took this bid to Rs. 25.20 crore.

Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) finally won the battle at a whopping price of Rs. 25.20 crore. After KKR released Andre Russell, it was pretty much clear that they would go aggressively for Cameron Green in the IPL 2026 mini auction.

https://x.com/ESPNcricinfo/status/2000860582963286201

Why will Cameron Green Receive Only Rs. 18 Crore?

Cameron Green will get only Rs. 18 crore due to the new IPL Regulation, but the Kolkata Knight Riders' purse will be reduced by Rs. 25.20 crore; they have to pay the full amount. The remaining Rs. 7.20 crore will go into the BCCI’s player welfare fund, which supports domestic cricketers.

Why Did the IPL Introduce This Rule?

Many Overseas players used to register themselves in the mini-auction purposely to get high value. Therefore, BCCI introduced this rule to protect the market value of Indian players as they were getting comparatively low value as most of the key Indian players are retained by franchise before the mini-auction.

Foreign players started skipping the mega auctions to get higher value in the mini-auctions. To avoid this supply and demand manipulation by foreign players, the BCCI introduced the “Maximum few rule”.

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