IPL 2024 Auction: SRH beat CSK to acquire WC final hero Travis Head, RR spend half their purse for Powell; Smith unsold

Rovman Powell and Travis Head saw an intense bidding war in Set 1 of the 2024 Indian Premier League auction.

The IPL Auction 2024 took place on December 19 at the Coca-Cola Arena in Dubai, with West Indies' star batter Rovman Powell emerging as the first player to be sold. Powell sparked an intense bidding war between Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and Rajasthan Royals (RR); ultimately, the Royals prevailed with a successful bid of INR 7.40 crores for the West Indian. KKR, with Gautam Gambhir returning in the role of mentor, had initiated the bid for Powell. However, Rajasthan Royals swiftly entered the fray, and the bidding war saw intense discussions in both camps, especially as it surpassed the INR 7 crore mark.

Travis Head (L) and Steve Smith during T20I series against India in November (Files)

Interestingly, Rajasthan Royals, with INR 14.5 crores of funds before the auction, spent almost half of it on securing the services of Rovman Powell. The move, however, doesn't come as a surprise as Powell has shown his explosive prowess in the league during his time with the Delhi Capitals. Powell scored at a strike rate of almost 150 (149.70) in the 2022 edition, smashing 250 runs in 14 matches. He lost his place in the XI in this season after the arrival of Australia's Mitchell Marsh in the Capitals.

Another significant development in the Set 1 was the acquisition of Travis Head, the 2023 World Cup hero for Australia, by Sunrisers Hyderabad for INR 6.80 crores. Chennai Super Kings were also in the race for the Australian left-hander, but they slowed their bidding as it crossed the INR 6 crore mark and eventually withdrew, allowing SRH to secure Head. CSK, already having an overseas opener in New Zealand's Devon Conway, likely factored this into their decision to pull out early in the bidding process.

SRH's bowling coach Muttiah Muralitharan was delighted with Head's acquisition, stating he was expecting a high bidding war for the Australian left-hander.

“I'm very happy, as a whole, the team is very happy as well. We wanted him really because we need an opening batsman who is left hander and part-time can bowl a spin a little bit. I never really thought we will get him for that price. Because we were thinking it will go very high given his performance was tremendous in the last few years in the last 21 days for Australia. So we were waiting for this and we thought we would have tough fight against so many teams,” Muralitharan told JioCinema after the end of Set 1.

In a surprising turn of events, Australian star batter Steve Smith found no buyers in the auction. Having last played in the IPL during the 2021 edition with the Delhi Capitals, Smith going unsold does raise some eyebrows. On the Indian front, the auction witnessed notable players like Karun Nair and Manish Pandey going unsold in the first set. Both players had a base price of INR 50 lakhs.