Australian captain Pat Cummins‘s tag as the most expensive player in the history of the Indian Premier League didn’t last long after his teammate Mitchell Starc pinned him down by quite some margin.
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Overseas cricketers, particularly fast bowlers, are always in high demand and the same was validated yet again during IPL 2024 auction in Dubai today. Sunrisers Hyderabad, who had never bought the most expensive player of an auction previously, acquired Cummins’ services for a record price of INR 20.50 crore. However, Kolkata Knight Riders splurged INR 24.75 crore to put Starc in a league of his own.
Earlier, Cummins had broken English all-rounder Sam Curran‘s record, who was bought by Punjab Kings for INR 18.50 crore during the last auction. As soon as Cummins’ name was announced, most successful franchises in Chennai Super Kings and Mumbai Indians initiated an intense bidding war only to be joined by Royal Challengers Bangalore within no time.
Comparatively late to join, SRH were part of a tug of war battling it hard against RCB till the end. Since the opposition was short on budget, Hyderabad were able to bid successfully for an international captain who has won a couple of world titles in the last six months.
PAT
Welcome, Cummins! #HereWeGOrange pic.twitter.com/qSLh5nDbLM
— SunRisers Hyderabad (@SunRisers) December 19, 2023
Interestingly, it isn’t for the first time when Cummins has received such an opulent bid in an IPL auction. Knight Riders had bought him for INR 15.50 crore during IPL 2020 auction. However, considering monumental expectations, it will be interesting to see whether he will be able to justify an unprecedented price tag or not.
Starc, on the other hand, enticed yet another Delhi-Mumbai combat before former Indian teammates Gautam Gambhir and Ashish Nehra locked horns to get the left-arm speedster. Although he didn’t play that year, Starc was last bought in an IPL auction by the same franchise.
New Zealand all-rounder Daryl Mitchell became the second most expensive player in IPL 2024 auction after Chennai Super Kings bought him for as many as INR 14 crore. Indian pacer Harshal Patel (INR 11.75 crore), West Indies pacer Alzarri Joseph (INR 11.5 crore) and Australian pacer Spencer Johnson (INR 10 crore) were also able to surpass the 10 crore-mark.
Most Expensive Player In IPL 2024 Auction [UPDATED]
Mitchell Starc (Kolkata Knight Riders) – INR 24.75 crore
Pat Cummins (Sunrisers Hyderabad) – INR 20.50 crore
Daryl Mitchell (Chennai Super Kings) – INR 14 crore
Harshal Patel (Punjab Kings) – INR 11.75 crore
Alzarri Joseph (Royal Challengers Bangalore) – INR 11.5 crore
Spencer Johnson (Gujarat Titans) – INR 10 crore
Sameer Rizvi (Chennai Super Kings) – INR 8.40 crore
Rilee Rossouw (Punjab Kings) – INR 8 crore
Rovman Powell (Rajasthan Royals) – INR 7.40 crore
Shahrukh Khan (Gujarat Titans) – INR 7.40 crore