After surpassing the record amount paid for teammate Pat Cummins at the competition’s auction a few hours earlier, Australia’s Mitchell Starc became the most expensive signing in the history of the Indian Premier League (IPL).
Starc, a left-arm pacer who was last in the IPL eight years ago, was bought by Kolkata Knight Riders for $2.98m on Tuesday.
The franchise exclaimed, “We won, Mr. Starc!” on X.
That beat the fee paid by Sunrisers Hyderabad for Cummins, who went for $2.46m.
Sam Curran, an England bowler who signed with Punjab Kings for $2.23 million last year, set a record prior to this auction.
Cummins went into the auction with a base price of 20 million Indian rupees ($240,458), barely a month after guiding Australia to the 50-overs World Cup title in India.
Royal Challengers Bangalore doggedly pursued Cummins but 2016 champions Hyderabad had the last laugh in the tug-of-war over the fast bowler, who has also evolved as a handy lower-order hitter.
Even though head coach Daniel Vettori has been silent about the possibility, Cummins offers Hyderabad a leadership option as well.
“There’s a lot of cricket left before the IPL,” former New Zealand captain Vettori said.
“We’ll have to get through that and then we’ll make a decision closer to that time.”
Left-arm quick Starc was in high demand as soon as his name went under the hammer, with Delhi and Mumbai fighting for his services after an eight-year break.
Both, however, retreated as bidding intensified and Kolkata trumped Gujarat Titans by offering the winning bid for the 33-year-old.
“You should expect this. Because IPL is growing, salary caps will grow and so will player fees,” Kolkata chief executive Venky Mysore said of their aggressive pursuit of Starc.
New Zealand’s Daryl Mitchell also struck it rich after Chennai splashed 140 million rupees ($1.68m) to acquire the batting all-rounder at 10 times his base price.
The auction, which was held outside of India for the first time, saw India’s Harshal Patel, a seamer, become a millionaire as well, having bought Punjab Kings for 117.5 million rupees ($1.4 million).
The Indian cricket board has not announced the dates but next year’s IPL is likely to be played between March and May.
Unsold players included former Australia captain Steve Smith and England spinner Adil Rashid.
