Australia's Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins set salary records at IPL auction

Mitchell Starc overtook his Australian bowling partner Pat Cummins to become the most expensive buy in IPL history with an eyepopping bid of Rs 2475 crore at the IPL auction 2024 on TuesdayNot long after Cummins fetched an unprecedented pay packet of Rs 2050 crore from Sunrisers Hyderabad Starc raised the bar when Kolkata Knight Riders made a multi million dollar bid for the leftarm pacer who last played in the IPL in 2015 Starcs payout was significantly more than Sam Curran got last year when Punjab Kings paid a then record Rs 1850 crore for the England allrounderSuch are the unpredictable ways of IPL that one third of the formidable Australian pace trio Josh Hazlewood went unsold in the first round of auction from a base price of Rs 2 croreGujarat Titans and KKR were involved in a long and exhilarating bidding battle for Starc before the latter lapped him up for a record deal Starc 33 has usually prioritised international duty over IPL but decided to enter the auction with one eye on the T20 World Cup that follows the IPL He has played only two seasons of the IPL taking 34 wickets in 27 games at an average of 2038In contrast Cummins has been a regular at the IPL but skipped the 2023 edition to focus on the Ashes and the ODI World CupAlso Read IPL auction 2024 What will each team look forward toAn intense bidding war in the IPL auction 2024 followed for Cummins with Mumbai Indians Royal Challengers Bangalore Chennai Super Kings and Sunrisers Hyderabad raising their paddles frenetically to secure the services of the fast bowling allrounderIn the end it was SRH who broke the bank for CumminsIt was not the first time that Cummins attracted huge sums at the IPL auction Ahead of the 2020 edition KKR had paid Rs 155 crore for his servicesStarc however was shocked after making history on Tuesday It was a shock of course My wife Alyssa Healy is with the womens team in India so she was getting updates quicker than what I was seeing on screen Surprised but thrilled Starc told the host broadcasterAmong the fast bowlers the others who broke the bank were Harshal Patel Rs 1175 crore to Punjab Kings Alzarri Joseph Rs 1150 crore to RCB Umesh Yadav Rs 580 crore to Gujrat Titans and Shivam Mavi Rs 640 crore to LSGHarshal who was released by RCB ahead of the auction remains a sought after player with Punjab Kings going the distance for the outoffavour India pacerIn the batters category Daryl Mitchell had a massive payday with Chennai Super Kings spending Rs 14 crore for the New Zealand batterSRH grabbed World Cup final hero Travis Head for Rs 680 croreHead who scored a matchwinning century in the ODI World Cup final against India and also starred in the World Test Championship final against the Rohit Sharmaled team earlier this year saw reigning champions Chennai Super Kings and SRH indulge in a bidding warThe wicketkeeper batter finally went to 2016 champions SRH New Zealand batter Rachin Ravindra with a base price of Rs 50 lakh was snapped by CSK for a modest Rs 18 crore Ravindra was another star of the recently held ODI World Cup in IndiaWest Indies T20 skipper Rovman Powell emerged as the costliest player among capped batters going to Rajasthan Royals for Rs 740 crorePowell who had a base price of Rs 2 crore was the first player to go under the hammer at the mini auction and as many as three teams showed keen interest to rope him in for the 2024 seasonEventually Rajasthan Royals got their hands on the big hitter who also captains their team Barbados Royals in the Caribbean Premier League CPLAlso Read High praise for Team India from England skipper Heather KnightThe trio of former Australia skipper Steve Smith Indias Manish Pandey and Rilee Rossouw went unsold while Englands Harry Brook was snapped by Delhi Capitals for Rs 4 croreYoung South Africa pacer Gerald Coetzee attracted a winning bid of Rs 5 crore from Mumbai Indians while India pacer Shardul Thakur returned to CSK for Rs 4 croreUncapped Sameer Rizvi gets lifechanging dealThe auction often rewards the uncapped Indian cricketers with life changing contracts and it was no different on TuesdaySameer Rizvi the 20yearold from Uttar Pradesh was recruited by Chennai Super Kings for as much as Rs 840 croreHe is known for his six hitting abilities on the domestic circuit His performances in the UP T20 league and U23 went a long way in getting him a coveted contract at CSKAnother hard hitting batter Kumar Kushagra went for big money as Delhi Capitals spent Rs 720 crore for the 20yearoldWith agency inputs