In a history-making move, Australia pacer Mitchell Starc was bought by Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) for a whopping Rs 24.75 crores/ A$ 5 million just hours after his skipper Pat Cummins had breached the Rs 20 crore/A$ 4 million mark after being brought by Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH), to become the most expensive player in the history of the Indian Premier League (IPL) at the auction in Dubai on Tuesday.
Sam Curran, an all-around player for England, was previously the most expensive player in the Indian Premier League (IPL), having cost Punjab Kings (PBKS) INR 18.50 crore/A$ 3.8 million for him at the previous year’s auction, as per Olympics.com.
The 33-year-old left-arm fast bowler (Starc) described the competitive bidding for his services as humbling.
“It’s obviously humbling to still, I guess, feel like I’m wanted or needed anyway. So hopefully that experience that I’ve had for a few years now can translate into success in… obviously leading up to the IPL and, hopefully, add some of that to the KKR list,”
Starc said.
“Our Test squad WhatsApp group’s been going off, letting us know that I think it’s our shout for dinner and drinks. So it might be a costly little trip to Melbourne for us for the Boxing Day Test. But yeah, we’ve managed to find some luck tonight, and yeah, pretty, pretty special night for the both of us, I think,” Starc said on JioCinema as quoted by ESPNcricinfo.
On the other hand, SRH posted a video message by Cummins.
“Pumped to be joining SRH for the upcoming IPL. I have heard a lot of Orange Army, I have played in Hyderabad a few times and loved it. I cannot wait to get started. Happy to see another Aussie Travis Head. We are going to have a lot of fun this season and hopefully a lot of success,”
said Cummins in the video.
In addition to Starc and Cummins being the ones who started the 20 crore club in the IPL, other players who commanded premiums of 10 crore or more at the IPL 2024 auction were New Zealand all-rounder Daryl Mitchell (Rs 14.00 cr/A$ 2.9 million to CSK), Indian pacer Harshal Patel (Rs 11.75 cr/A$ 2.2 million to PBKS), West Indies pacer Alzarri Joseph (Rs 11.50 cr/A$ 2.2 million to RCB), and Australian pacer Spencer Johnson (Rs 10 cr/ A$ 2 million to GT).
Australian opener Travis Head, who produced remarkable performances in the World Test Championship final and the ODI World Cup final earlier this year, was one of the batter with a hefty price tag.
Chennai Super Kings and Sunrisers Hyderabad were engaged in a fierce bidding battle.
Travis became a part of the Orange family for a price tag of Rs 6.8 corer/ A$1.3 million.
He expressed excitement about joining the Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) for the Indian Premier League (IPL) next year.
“Hi, Sunrisers fans, over the moon about joining this year. So many good players in the team, exciting. So many brilliant stories about the Orange Army, how loud they are, how vocal they are. Looking forward to joining,” said Travis in a video by SRH.
At the IPL 2024 auction, 332 players from 13 different countries were up for bid. Of these, Indians made up 216. Following player retention, releases, and trades, the 10 clubs united in the IPL 2024 auction had a maximum of 77 spots available, including 30 overseas player quotas.
However, only KKR (23) and RR (22) decided not to pursue their entire quota of 25 players, meaning that 72 players were selected throughout the bidding process. All thirty international player places, however, were filled.
Support Our Journalism
Global Indian Diaspora needs fair, non-hyphenated, and questioning journalism, packed with on-ground reporting. The Australia Today – with exceptional reporters, columnists, and editors – is doing just that. Sustaining this needs support from wonderful readers like you.
Whether you live in Australia, the United Kingdom, Canada, the United States of America, or India you can take a paid subscription by clicking Patreon. Buy an annual ‘The Australia Today Membership’ to support independent journalism and get special benefits.
