The captain of the West Indies T20I cricket team, Rovman Powell, was the surprise big earner in the opening exchanges of the IPL 2024 player auction, going to the Rajasthan Royals for INR 7.4 crore after competitive bidding with the Kolkata Knight Riders. The Royals spent more than half of their auction purse of INR 14.5 crore on Powell, whose previous auction price was INR 2.8 crore when the Delhi Capitals bought him in 2022.

The Royals were also involved in another bidding battle for England batter Harry Brook, who was eventually bought by the Delhi Capitals for INR 4 crore. Brook had been bought for INR 13.25 crore in the 2023 auction by Sunrisers Hyderabad, who released him ahead of this auction.

Sunrisers replaced Brook by going after Australian batter Travis Head, the Player of the Match in the ODI World Cup semi-final and final, whom they bought for INR 6.8 crore after competitive bidding from Chennai Super Kings.

The bastman of team Australia, Steven Smith, and South African batter Rilee Rossouw, who had listed their base prices at INR 2 crore, and Indian batters Manish Pandey and Karun Nair, were unsold in the first set of capped batters.