Auction King

KOCHI: England all-rounder Sam Curran on Friday became the most expensive player in the history of the Indian Premier League (IPL) auctions after fetching a whopping Rs 18.5 crore bid from Punjab Kings here.

An intense bidding battle for Curran saw Mumbai Indians, Royal Challengers Bangalore, Rajasthan Royals, Chennai Super Kings, Lucknow Super Giants and Punjab raise their paddles frenetically to secure the services of the T20 World Cup ‘Player of the Tournament’.

In the end, it was Punjab that broke the bank to get Curran, who drew the highest-ever bid that bettered the previous best buy of Rs 16.25 crore, which Rajasthan Royals had shelled out to acquire South Africa all-rounder Chris Morris in 2021.

Curran is going back to the franchise where he started his IPL journey. The then Kings XI Punjab (now Punjab Kings) made him an IPL millionaire in 2019 before he moved to Chennai Super Kings.

Australia all-rounder Cameron Green was the second-highest earner, fetching a Rs 17.5 crore bid from Mumbai. “I am pinching myself that this has all happened. It is such a weird feeling watching an auction for yourself. I cannot believe how nervous I was and I was shaking like anything when the final call was confirmed,” said Green.

England Test skipper Ben Stokes was the third-highest gainer, fetching Rs 16.25 crore from CSK, which pipped LSG in another bidding war. England players were in high demand as batter Harry Brook earned a Rs 13.25 crore winning bid from Sunrisers Hyderabad.

Brook, who struck three hundreds in as many matches and set new record for most runs by an England batter in a Test series in Pakistan, had a base price of Rs 1.5 crore. India international Mayank Agarwal was also bought by Hyderabad, for Rs 8.25 crore.

West Indies great and SRH head coach Brian Lara said that the franchise went for Brook keeping in mind the finisher’s role. “With the absence of [Nicholas] Pooran, we were looking at someone who could finish matches for us. Brook’s exploits around the world has shown that he has the capability of doing it. It will take time for him to get into the groove but the expectation is pretty high. I believe that he is a great choice,” Lara said.

New Zealand stalwart Kane Williamson was sold at his base price of Rs 2 crore to defending champion Gujarat Titans while India batter Ajinkya Rahane was bought at his base price of Rs 50 lakh by Chennai Supper Kings. West Indies all-rounder Jason Holder went to Rajasthan Royals for Rs 5.75 crore while his international teammate Pooran secured a bumper deal of Rs 16 crore from Super Giants.

PLAYERS BOUGHT AT THE AUCTION

CHENNAI SUPER KINGS

Ben Stokes (o) – Rs 16.25 crore, Kyle Jamieson (o) – Rs 1 crore, Nishant Sindhu – Rs 60 lakh, Ajinkya Rahane – Rs 50 lakh, Bhagath Varma – Rs 20 lakh, Ajay Mandal – Rs 20 lakh and Shaik Rasheed – Rs 20 lakh

DELHI CAPITALS

Mukesh Kumar – Rs 5.5 crore, Rilee Rossouw (o) – Rs 4.6 crore, Manish Pandey – Rs 2.4 crore, Phil Salt (o) – Rs 2 crore and Ishant Sharma – Rs 50 lakh

GUJARAT TITANS

Shivam Mavi – Rs 6 crore, Joshua Little (o) – Rs 4.4 crore, Kane Williamson (o) – Rs 2 crore, KS Bharat – Rs 1.2 crore, Mohit Sharma – Rs 50 lakh, Odean Smith (o) – Rs 50 lakh and Urvil Patel – Rs 20 lakh

KOLKATA KNIGHT RIDERS

Shakib Al Hasan (o) – Rs 1.5 crore, David Wiese (o) – Rs 1 crore, Narayan Jagadeesan – Rs 90 lakh, Vaibhav Arora – Rs 60 lakh, Mandeep Singh – Rs 50 lakh, Litton Das (o) – Rs 50 lakh, Kulwant Khejroliya – Rs 20 lakh and Suyash Sharma – Rs 20 lakh

LUCKNOW SUPER GIANTS

Nicholas Pooran (o) – Rs 16 crore, Daniel Sams (o) – Rs 75 lakh, Amit Mishra – Rs 50 lakh, Romario Shepherd (o) – Rs 50 lakh, Naveen Ul Haq (o) – Rs 50 lakh, Jaydev Unadkat – Rs 50 lakh, Yash Thakur – Rs 45 lakh, Swapnil Singh – Rs 20 lakh, Yudhvir Charak – Rs 20 lakh and Prerak Mankad – Rs 20 lakh

MUMBAI INDIANS

Cameron Green (o) – Rs 17.5 crore, Jhye Richardson (o) – Rs 1.5 crore, Piyush Chawla – Rs 50 lakh, Nehal Wadhera – Rs 20 lakh, Raghav Goyal – Rs 20 lakh, Vishnu Vinod – Rs 20 lakh, Duan Jansen (o) – Rs 20 lakh and Shams Mulani – Rs 20 lakh

PUNJAB KINGS

Sam Curran (o) – Rs 18.5 crore, Sikandar Raza (o) – Rs 50 lakh, Harpreet Bhatia – Rs 40 lakh, Shivam Singh – Rs 20 lakh, Vidwath Kaverappa – Rs 20 lakh and Mohit Rathee – Rs 20 lakh

RAJASTHAN ROYALS

Jason Holder (o) – Rs 5.75 crore, Adam Zampa (o) – Rs 1.5 crore, Joe Root (o) – Rs 1 crore, Donovan Ferreira (o) – Rs 50 lakh, KM Asif – Rs 30 lakh, PA Abdul – Rs 20 lakh, Akash Vashisht – Rs 20 lakh, Kunal Rathore – Rs 20 lakh and Murugan Ashwin – Rs 20 lakh

ROYAL CHALLENGERS BANGALORE

Will Jacks (o) – Rs 3.2 crore, Reece Topley (o) – Rs 1.9 crore, Rajan Kumar – Rs 70 lakh, Avinash Singh – Rs 60 lakh, Sonu Yadav – Rs 20 lakh, Himanshu Sharma – Rs 20 lakh and Manoj Bhandage – Rs 20 lakh

SUNRISERS HYDERABAD

Harry Brook (o) – Rs 13.25 crore, Mayank Agarwal – Rs 8.25 crore, Heinrich Klaasen (o) – Rs 5.25 crore, Vivrant Sharma – Rs 2.6 crore, Adil Rashid (o) – Rs 2 crore, Mayank Dagar – Rs 1.8 crore, Akeal Hosein (o) – Rs 1 crore, Mayank Markande – Rs 50 lakh, Upendra Singh Yadav – Rs 25 lakh, Sanvir Singh – Rs 20 lakh, Anmolpreet Singh – Rs 20 lakh, Samarth Vyas – Rs 20 lakh and Nitish Kumar Reddy – Rs 20 lakh