Online Desk: Australia fast bowler Mitchell Starc has shattered the record for the most expensive player at an IPL auction after being bought by Kolkata Knight riders for INR 24.75 crore (US$2,982,000 approx.).

He surpassed the winning bid of INR 20.50 crore (US$2,470,000 approx.) that Sunrisers Hyderabad had made for Pat Cummins, Australia’s ODI World Cup winning captain, less than two hours earlier at the IPL 2024 auction in Dubai.
Starc came up for bidding in the first set for fast bowlers – the fourth set of the day – and the battle for him began between Mumbai Indians and Delhi Capitals. However, it was swiftly taken over by Gujarat Titans and KKR, the only franchises with more than INR 30 crore left in their purse at that point, and KKR won the final bid.

The last time Starc featured in an IPL auction was in 2018 when KKR had signed him for INR 9.4 crore. He didn’t play that season, though, because of injury; he hasn’t played the IPL since 2015, in fact.

Starc, who last played the IPL eight years ago, took 34 wickets from 27 games across the 2014 and 2015 seasons at an excellent economy of 7.17. Over 121 T20 games, the 33-year-old has taken 170 wickets at an economy of 7.45.

“I’ve probably prioritised international cricket firstly for a long time whilst having a bit of a taste of IPL and Big Bash in Australia,” Starc said after his bid. “I’ve always held firm that I’ve wanted to play my best cricket for Australia and make myself available for Australia where I can. At the same time, the temptation to go back to IPL and how exciting it is to be involved in such a great tournament, big names, big players, big stages -it’s too hard to pass up. There’s a place to play all of it. It’s just being mindful and putting the work ethic into being able to do all of it.”

Before Starc’s record bid, Sunrisers had spent INR 20.50 crore (US$2,470,000 approx.) to sign Cummins, staving off competition from Royal Challengers Bangalore to get their man. Cummins’ price had surpassed the record of INR 18.50 crore that Punjab Kings had paid for England allrounder Sam Curran at the 2023 IPL auction. Cummins had skipped the 2023 IPL to focus on international cricket; his previous highest auction price was INR 15.50 crore, when KKR had signed him in 2020.

“Pumped to be joining SRH for the upcoming IPL season,” Cummins said after he was sold. “I’ve heard a lot about the Orange Army, I’ve played at Hyderabad a few times and always loved it, so can’t wait to get started. Great to see another Aussie in Trav Head over there as well. I think we’re going to have a lot of fun this season, and hopefully plenty of success.”

Sunrisers head coach Daniel Vettori said they were able to spend that much on Cummins because they already had most bases covered. “Someone else desperately wanted him as well, that’s why he got pushed to that high number,” Vettori said. “Because our team is relatively settled and we have the budget, and we have already picked up Travis Head and [Wanindu] Hasaranga, we felt like we’d covered most things that we wanted at the auction, so we had the ability to spend that much.”