Aussies rule as Cummins, Starc breach ₹20cr mark

The Indian Premier League (IPL) auction saw two record-breaking signings as Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins were bought for ₹24.75 crore and ₹20.5 crore respectively.

The record for the most expensive signing in Indian Premier League (IPL) auctions fell twice in quick succession on Tuesday as the ₹20 crore mark was breached for the first time in the cash-rich T20 league’s 15-year history. Australian pacers Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins were responsible for the record-breaking numbers in Dubai, securing unprecedented bids of ₹24.75 crore and ₹20.5 crore from Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) respectively.

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The highest bid before Tuesday was ₹18.5 crore for England’s Sam Curran by Punjab Kings at the auction for IPL 2023.

With recency bias tending to influence decision-making at IPL auctions, it isn’t surprising that Starc and Cummins have become the most expensive acquisitions ever. Both were part of Australia’s ODI World Cup-winning campaign in India last month, and their availability for this mini auction implied that teams in need of a marquee pacer were going to go all out. Cummins didn’t take part in this year’s IPL citing his commitments with the Australian team, while Starc hasn’t played in the tournament since 2015 with his focus on managing his workload. He was signed by KKR for ₹9.4 crore at the IPL auction in 2018, but he couldn’t play due to injury.

Neither has managed to have a major impact in the shortest format so far, but the money splurged at these auctions can often go against cold cricketing logic. This is illustrated perhaps most aptly by West Indian pacer Alzarri Joseph, who has 20 wickets in 19 IPL matches at an economy of 9.19, going to Royal Challengers Bangalore for ₹11.5 crore — the fourth most expensive buy on Tuesday. With Gujarat Titans having the largest purse left ( ₹38.15 crore) and Lucknow Super Giants the smallest ( ₹13.15 crore) heading into the auction — all teams are allocated a budget of ₹100 crore each — these bids are dictated by the requirements and resources of different franchises.

In KKR’s case, their decision to release New Zealand pacer Lockie Ferguson before the auction created the need to have a star overseas pacer. And having signed Starc previously even though he never played for the franchise, it was clear they would show interest again. While SRH already had young South African pacer Marco Jansen in their ranks, their intent to get Cummins suggests they were keen for a more experienced fast bowler. Cummins could also be a candidate for captaincy after South Africa’s Aiden Markram led them to a bottom-placed finish last season.

Cummins, categorised in the auction as an all-rounder, appeared in the second set of players, and he became the first dollar millionaire of the day due to a bidding war involving four teams. Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Mumbai Indians (MI) were the first to enter the fray, swiftly ramping up the price from Cummins’s base of ₹2 crore to ₹4.8 crore. RCB raised the bid to ₹5 crore and were involved in a tussle with CSK until the latter pulled out at ₹7.8 crore. SRH showed interest at this stage and engaged in a long battle with RCB, eventually prevailing with a ₹20.5 crore bid.

Less than an hour later, Starc went on to overtake his Australian team mate, sparking a fierce fight that began with Delhi Capitals and Mumbai Indians raising the paddle before boiling down to a two-way battle between KKR and GT. Both franchises got into it at around the ₹10 crore mark and were so determined to land the signing that they didn’t pull out even when the amount went north of ₹20 crore. The KKR camp ultimately was a tad keener to rope in Starc.

“I was telling someone that the salary cap of a team when IPL started in 2008 was ₹20 crore, the entire salary cap. So things have changed, right? I think our view is that all 10 teams are going to walk out of the auction having spent ₹100 crore and each team decides to slice it differently. So, what you’ve paid to somebody is a matter of perspective. Ultimately, we’re all spending the same amount of money,” KKR CEO Venky Mysore told reporters.

Pacer Harshal Patel was the most sought-after Indian player on Tuesday, with Punjab Kings shelling out ₹11.75 crore for his services. The 33-year-old was surprisingly released by RCB before the auction despite having featured in 25 T20Is for India. He was also the highest wicket-taker in IPL 2022 claiming 32 scalps in 15 matches for RCB.

Among uncapped players, Sameer Rizvi generated the maximum interest. The 20-year-old is a powerful middle-order batter who caught the attention of IPL franchises with a breakthrough campaign for Uttar Pradesh in the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 tournament, scoring 277 runs in seven games at an average of 69.25 and a strike rate of 139.89. That Chennai Super Kings, the most successful IPL team with five titles alongside Mumbai Indians and considered to be prudent with their picks, signed him for ₹8.4 crore is indicative of Rizvi’s potential.

CSK had plenty of reasons to be satisfied with the auction. They were able to get Rachin Ravindra and Daryl Mitchell, New Zealand’s ODI World Cup stars, for ₹1.8 crore and ₹14 crore respectively. Mitchell and Ravindra give CSK options in a middle order vacated by Ambati Rayudu after his retirement. Also in CSK’s squad is seam-bowling all-rounder Shardul Thakur, whose signing for ₹4 crore is a relative steal.

The pick of Mumbai’s signings was South African pacer Gerald Coetzee, another example of a player benefitting from a strong performance in the recent ODI World Cup. Blessed with the ability to bowl fast, he took 20 wickets in eight games to finish as the fifth highest wicket-taker in the tournament. They have also brought in Sri Lankan left-arm pacer Dilshan Madushanka.

A total of ₹230.45 crore was spent for 72 players on Tuesday.