He surpassed the record which was amazingly broken during the same auction earlier. Australian Test and ODI captain Pat Cummins briefly held the record for the most expensive IPL player, when Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) shelled out Rs 20.50 crore for him. This was the first instance of players being offered more than Rs 20 crore at an IPL auction. The previous best was England all-rounder Sam Curran's Rs 18.50 crore during the IPL auction last year.
Starc last featured in the IPL in 2015 for Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB). In 27 matches in the Indian T20 league, he has 34 scalps at an economy rate of 7.17. "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 told JioCinema after the massive pay package.
New Zealand’s 2023 World Cup star Daryl Mitchell was the third most expensive purchase at the IPL 2024 auction. He was bought by Chennai Super Kings (CSK) for Rs 14 crore. Punjab Kings (PBKS) went for death overs specialist Harshal Patel at Rs 11.75 crore. The pacer thus became the most expensive Indian buy at the IPL 2024 auction.
In a somewhat surprising move, RCB spent as much as Rs 11.50 crore to buy West Indies pace bowler Alzarri Joseph. Another Australian fast bowler, left-armer Spencer Johnson, also had a big day at the auction. He was purchased by Gujarat Titans (GT) for Rs 10 crore.
If we talk about uncapped Indian players, Sameer Rizvi, a young 20-year-old batter walked away with a whopping pay package of Rs 8.40 crore. Rilee Rossouw (Rs 8 crore to Punjab Kings), Shahrukh Khan (Rs 7.4 crore to Gujara Titans) and Rovman Powell (Rs 7.4 crore to Rajasthan Royals) were some of the other top buys of the IPL 2024 auction.
While 332 players were picked to go under the hammer, 72 players ended up being sold, 30 of them being overseas players. In all, the 10 franchises spent a total of Rs 230.45 crore at the IPL 2024 auction.
--By A Cricket Correspondent
