The IPL 2024 auction will go down in history as the most jaw-dropping and entertaining auction. Because not only the INR 20 crore mark was breached twice, but also the most expensive player tag was broken twice.
72 players were sold in the IPL 2024 auction earlier this month at the Coca-Cola Arena in Dubai. But only two of them – Mitchell Starc (INR 24.75 crore), Pat Cummins (INR 20.5 crore) – have hogged most of the headlines. Whether the two franchises – KKR and SRH – made the wise decisions to invest such heavy amounts in the Aussie pace duo or not, will be proven only during the season.
The IPL 2024 season is expected to kick start on March 22 and end by the last week of May, just a week before the T20 World Cup in the West Indies and the USA gets underway.
Behind Starc and Cummins, the third most expensive player in IPL history is Sam Curran, who was bought for INR 18.5 crore by Punjab Kings in IPL 2023, and despite Curran’s underperformance last season, he was retained.
The 3 more expensive players in IPL history are all foreigners: Mitchell Starc (INR 24.75 crore), Pat Cummins (INR 20.5 crore) and Sam Curran (INR 18.5 crore).
In comparison, the three highest-paid Indian players are not too far behind Curran, but significantly behind Starc and Cummins.
We won, Mr. Starc! 💜 pic.twitter.com/twJ3VmCPDl
— KolkataKnightRiders (@KKRiders) December 19, 2023
3 more expensive Indian players in IPL 2024:
KL Rahul – INR 17 crore (Lucknow Super Giants)
Rohit Sharma (MI), Rishabh Pant (DC), Ravindra Jadeja )CSK) – INR 16 crore each
Ishan Kishan – INR 15.25 crore (Mumbai Indians)
It is no surprise that all these three most expensive IPL players – Starc, Cummins, and Curran – are pace-bowling all-rounders. But that they are all overseas should be a massive hint to the BCCI and the Indian state board associations to develop more pace-bowling all-rounders.
Despite the abundance of talent and the opportunities that the IPL provides to Indian players, the BCCI and the franchises have failed to develop a good, quality back-up pace-bowling all-rounder of Hardik Pandya. India suffered their worst nightmare when Pandya got injured during the World Cup and the management had to make two changes to replace Pandya in the XI.