These 3 Budget Buys Are Outperforming IPL’s Most Expensive Stars
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In the IPL 2026, there are some players who have been absolute beasts despite earning much less. Ryan Rickelton, being bought for INR 1 Crore, while Jamie Overton, with INR 1.50 Crore, has been dominating. SRH’s Eshan Malinga was bought for just INR 1.20 Crore and is the current purple cap holder.
For the IPL Teams, the Auction is a place where they make a unit or break a unit. Despite spending so much on some players, they often pick some players for a lesser price, which actually comes out as a steal deal. Let’s look at some of the players who are labelled as Steal Deal for the IPL 2026 because of their performances.
Bought for just an amount of INR 1.20 Crore in the IPL Auction, Eshan Malinga has been handling the bowling department of the Sunrisers Hyderabad team well. In the IPL 2026, Eshan Malinga has played 9 matches and has picked 15 wickets at an average of 18.93, while keeping an economy rate of 9.16. Against Chennai Super Kings in match 27, he was awarded the Man of the Match award for his figures of 3/29.
Playing for the Chennai Super Kings team in the IPL 2026, Jamie Overton was bought by the team for just INR 1.50 Crore, and since then, he has been a valuable asset for the team. In the 6 matches played by him so far, he has scored 136 runs with an average of 34.00 and a strike rate of 158.13. As a bowler, he has picked up 9 wickets and has been averaging 20.55 with the ball while maintaining an economy rate of 9.73.
The opener for the Mumbai Indians and the man who knows how to take on the bowlers, Ryan Rickelton, was bought by the Mumbai Indians for just INR 1 Crore. Being the top scorer for the Mumbai Indians so far in the IPL, he has scored 260 runs in the 6 innings played. With an average of 52.00 and a strike rate of 181.81, he has been bashing the bowlers well. Till now, he has a half-century along with a century against the Sunrisers Hyderabad in the IPL 2026.
With players such as Ryan Rickelton, Eshan Malinga and Jamie Overton doing well for their respective teams despite being bid for too little, it tells us about the story of the IPL. On the other hand, players like Rishabh Pant and Cameron Green, who went for more than INR 25 Crores each, haven't been able to justify their payouts.
Note: The stats used in the article are till 29th April, 2026.