Australia's World Cup-winning stars Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins break Rs 20cr barrier as fast bowlers have a field day in IPL auction
As expected, Australia's World Cup-winning stars were the biggest draws in the IPL auction in Dubai on Tuesday. The day began with Australia captain Pat Cummins setting the record for being the most expensive player in IPL history when Sunrisers Hyderabad, overcoming a stiff challenge from RCB, shelled out Rs 20.5cr for the fast bowler.
His record would barely last an hour, broken by his Australia teammate and fast-bowling colleague Mitchell Starc. Living up to the hype, the left-arm quick was snapped up for an eye-popping Rs 24.75cr by the Shah Rukh Khan-owned Kolkata Knight Riders, who staved off stiff competition from Gujarat Titans. The Australian fast-bowling pair became the first two players to breach the Rs 20cr-mark in salary in the history of the auctions, comfortably clearing Sam Curran's Rs 18.5cr payout last year.
The third part of this pace trio, Josh Hazlewood, went unsold because, expecting to become a father, he would have only been able to play in the IPL only in the first week of May.
This will be Starc's second stint in the IPL, and his first in eight years. Playing for RCB back in the 2014-15 seasons, he had taken 34 wickets in 27 games at an excellent economy rate of 7.17.
In fact, he had been bought by KKR in the 2018 auction too but had to withdraw due to a fractured leg. Since then, Starc has prioritised playing for Australia, giving the lucre of the IPL a miss. However, this time, the 33-yearold will aim to use the T20 league as preparation for the T20 World Cup, from June 4 in the US and West Indies.
Soon after his name was announced by auctioneer Mallika Sagar, Starc, sold for almost 12 times his base price of Rs 2cr, was immediately targeted by Mumbai Indians and the Delhi Capitals, who had star injured 'keeper-bat Rishabh Pant at the auction table for them.
Both the franchises, however, withdrew from the race, as KKR, led by their former captain and current mentor Gautam Gambhir, went on a splurging spree to successfully acquire the star pacer.
It was clear that to the franchises, it didn't matter that Starc has proved to be more of a champion bowler in Tests and ODIs. He hasn't played an IPL game since 2015, and in fact, is yet to play a T20I in India. His T20 record reads at 170 wickets in 121 games at an average of 19.54, and economy rate of 7.45.
"It was a shock, of course. My wife, Alyssa, is with the (Australian) women's team in India, so she was getting updates quicker than what I was seeing on screen. Surprised but thrilled," a naturally delighted Starc told the official broadcaster.
CSK bag Rachin, Mitchell
The biggest steal of the auction was pulled off by Chennai Super Kings, who grabbed New Zealand's World Cup's star performer, allrounder Rachin Ravindra, for just Rs 1.8cr.
Looking for an able replacement in the middle-order for Ambati Rayudu, MS Dhoni's team, though, had to shell out much, much more - Rs 14cr - for another in-demand New Zealander batter, Daryl Mitchell. Striving to add raw pace to their arsenal, RCB punted on West Indies quick Alzarri Joseph, splurging Rs 11.50cr on him, before adding Kiwi pacer Lockie Ferguson (Rs 2cr) to their armoury too. The highest Indian capped buy was medium-pacer Harshal Patel, who was bought by the Punjab Kings for Rs 11.75cr.
PBKS also splurged Rs 8cr on South Africa's dashing left-hander Rilee Rossouw.
Uncapped Indians enjoy big payday
The other massive surprise that this auction threw up was the big bucks that franchises shelled out for a few uncapped Indian players.
The Chennai Super Kings spent Rs 8.4cr to buy Uttar Pradesh's big-hitter Sameer Rizvi, who had entered with a base price of Rs 20 lakh.
The 20-year-old from Meerut, who went unsold at last year's auction, has played only 11 T20s, but sizzled in this year's UP T20 league while playing for the Kanpur Superstars, finishing as the highest run-getter at the tournament (455 runs in nine innings), and also scoring two centuries.
He smashed as many as 18 sixes for UP in the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 Trophy earlier this season, while also doing well for the state's U-23 team.
A hard-hitting 'keeper-batsman from Jharkhand, the 20-year-old Kumar Kushagra was picked by the Delhi Capitals, clearly looking for a replacement for Rishabh Pant, for a handsome Rs 7.20cr.
Shubham Dubey, a 29-year-old hard-hitting southpaw from Vidarbha, was netted by the Rajasthan Royals for Rs 5.8cr. Jharkhand's big-hitting left-hander Robin Minz was netted by Gujarat Titans for Rs 3.8cr, while M Siddharth, a 25-year-old left-arm spinner from Tamil Nadu, was bought by LSG for Rs 2.40cr.
Sushant Mishra, a 22-year-old pacer from Jharkhand, was taken for Rs 2.2cr by the Gujarat Titans.
On expected lines, the uncapped Indian who fetched the most was Tamil Nadu's big-hitting allrounder Shahrukh Khan, who was snapped up by the Gujarat Titans, looking to fill the gaping hole left by Hardik Pandya's all-cash trade to the Mumbai Indians, for Rs 7.40cr.
With pacers much in demand on the day, Shivam Mavi (LSG, Rs 6.40cr),
Umesh Yadav
(GT, Rs 5.8cr) and Shardul Thakur (CSK, Rs 4cr) fetched a good price too.
The Mumbai Indians added a trio of fast bowlers at modest price tags when they netted South African upstart Gerald Coetzee(Rs 5cr), and the Sri Lankan pair of left-armer Dilshan Madushanka (Rs 4.6cr) and Nuwan Thushara (Rs 4.80cr), besides Afghanistan off-spinner Mohammad Nabi (Rs 1.5cr).
Australia's left-arm fast bowler Spencer Johnson (Gujarat Titans; Rs 10cr), West Indian Rovman Powell (RR; Rs 7.40cr), Australia's World Cup final hero
Travis Head
(Rs 6.8 cr; SRH), Aussie pacer Jhye Richardson (Rs 5cr; DC), England's explosive batsman Harry Brook (Rs 4cr; DC), English quick Chris Woakes (Rs 4.2cr, Punjab Kings) were the other overseas significant buys of the auction.
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