RCB Offers Unprecedented 5500% Salary Increase to India's Rising Star: Highest in IPL History! Pant and Iyer Receive Record Bids, but Fall Short.

Among all the players in the IPL, no one could surpass the astounding salary increase achieved by Jitesh Sharma. He received a remarkable 5500% hike in his salary, setting a new record in the IPL. The talented right-handed wicketkeeper-batsman was acquired by Royal Challengers Bengaluru for a whopping ₹11 crore, a staggering 55 times higher than his previous IPL salary of ₹20 lakh. Initially signed at his base price by PBKS during the IPL 2022 mega auction, they were quick to retain him for the next two seasons at the same price.

Jitesh's rise has been exponential. Since making his debut in IPL 2022, Jitesh has never looked back. He had two good seasons for PBKS in 2022 and 2023, scoring at a strike rate of 163 and 156, respectively. He hit 21 sixes in the 2023 season, which earned him a spot in the Indian T20I side as a wicketkeeper and finisher. He was elevated to the vice captain's spot last season after regular captain Shikhar Dhawan was ruled out with an injury.

Jitesh, however, did not have a fruitful season with the bat this year. The Vidarbha cricketer scored only 187 runs at a strike rate of 131 - which is a stark dip from the last two seasons. Then how did he attract such a high bid from RCB? There are two reasons.

Jitesh Sharma is an Indian wicketkeeper-batter with a specific skill set. He is one of those rare cricketers who is very comfortable playing the role of a finisher, which is treated as one of the most difficult things to do in the shortest format of the game. That is precisely why he still remains on the fringes of the Indian T20I side. He was a part of the Indian squad that beat South Africa 3-1 in the T20I series earlier this month.

Secondly, RCB needed a keeper-batter to replace Dinesh Karthik. The veteran cricketer announced his retirement from all forms after holding the finisher and keeper's spot in RCB for the last few seasons. Jitesh is an ideal replacement for Karthik. He can slot in at No.5 or below and play those useful cameos, while the likes of Virat Kohli and Rajat Patidar can form the core of the batting unit.

Jitesh was not the only one to get a huge raise in this year's IPL auction. Percentage-wise, no one came even close to Jitesh's salary jump but there were cricketers who got more money than Jitesh. All-rounder Venkatesh Iyer was the biggest gainer in terms of the amount. Kolkata Knight Riders paid a whopping ₹23.75 crore to get Iyer back in their squad, which is ₹15.75 crore more than his previous salary of ₹8 crore.

Shreyas Iyer's salary went up by ₹14.50 crore. KKR gave him ₹12.25 crore in the mega auction in 2022, but this time around, PBKS snapped up the IPL-winning captain of the last edition for ₹26.75 crore, which is a more than 200% raise in his salary.

Arshdeep Singh was another big earner. India's T20I specialist was surprisingly released by PBKS ahead of the mega auction but the Punjab-based franchise used the RTM card to buy him back for ₹18 crore, which is ₹14 crore more - 3500% - than his previous price of ₹4 crore.

PBKS were in the nick of things again as they gave a ₹11.5 crore more leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal to buy him at the auction for ₹18 crore. Chahal, who played for RR last season for ₹6.5 crore, became the highest-paid spinner in IPL auction history, bettering Wanindu Hasaranga's ( ₹10.75 crore) mark by some distance.

Pant, the most expensive player in IPL history, received a raise of ₹11 crore from LSG. His previous IPL salary at DC was ₹16 crore.