Cummins becomes most expensive foreign player in IPL history

Australia pacer Pat Cummins on Thursday became the most expensive foreign player in the Indian Premier League (IPL) history.

Cummins, who sits at the top of the bowlers rankings in Test cricket, was sold for a whopping amount of Rs15.50 crore to Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR). His figures went past England all-rounder Ben Stokes’ auction bid of 14.5 crores made at the IPL 2017 auctions.

The Australian pacer also became the second most expensive player in the history of the IPL auction, after former Indian all-rounder Yuvraj Singh was signed by the then Delhi Daredevils franchise for Rs16 crore in 2015.

Initially, Royal Challengers Bangalore and Delhi Capitals were locked in a bidding war for Cummins who had a base price of Rs two crore. The bid swiftly soared past 5 crore, with RCB in the lead briefly at 5.25 crore. Cummins eventually returned to KKR for a jaw-dropping 15.5 crore.

The 26-year-old, who has played 25 T20Is for Australia, had played 16 IPL matches for Delhi Capitals till this season in which he scalped 17 wickets.

England all-rounder Sam Curran, who played for Kings XI in last season, went to Chennai Super Kings (CSK) for Rs5.50 crore. Yusuf Pathan and Stuart Binny went unsold.

Earlier, England’s World Cup winning captain Eoin Morgan and Australia’s limited-overs skipper Aaron Finch were snapped by KKR and RCB for 5.25 crore and 4.40 crore respectively.

Meanwhile, Dinesh Karthik will remain the captain of KKR despite the franchise going for England’s Morgan in the 13th Indian Premier League (IPL)auction.

“Dinesh is definitely our captain. We wanted to get as much experienced leadership as possible and Eoin Morgan is one of the very best leaders going around currently in our game,” KKR’s new head coach Brendon McCullum told reporters during the first break of the auction.

“A perfect leiutenant for Karthik and he will also fill the gap at No.4. He is in the form of his life. He is going to be a fine asset coming back to KKR,” said the former New Zealand captain.

The men in purple joined the fierce bidding only at Rs15 crore after Delhi Capitals and Royal Challengers Bangalore had a war for the paceman.

Asked about the ploy, KKR CEO Venky Mysore said: “We would have come up earlier but then we saw the money for him was going up. We were interested in him. He was a key player we were targetting. We are delighted to get him.”

“I thought he was the best player in the auction so it was great to have him. He is grown into a robust player in terms of injury. He is now vice-captain of the Australian team and it’s a mark of his development of a player in the last couple of years,” McCullum added.

Meanwhile, Australian all-rounder Glenn Maxwell, who had a base price of Rs2 crore, was bought by Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) after a fierce bidding war with Delhi capitals for Rs10.75 crore.

“He was very much on our radar. We needed someone with X-factor. He has been with us before and knows the exact layout. Mental issues are things which come and go and we are very sure he will do well for us,” said Kings XI CEO Satish Menon. Maxwell is back in the mix after taking a break to tackle mental health issues.

India captain Virat Kohli’s RCB snapped up Australia limited overs captain Aaron Finch for Rs4.40 crore. Head coach Mike Hesson said the dashing opener could provide leadership to overseas players and that’s why he was picked.

“Finch brings a lot of experience in the group. It’s more about providing the some leadership within the overseas players. We wanted someone who is very experienced,” he said.

Agencies