The IPL 2024 auction witnessed eight hours of intense bidding wars but two of the players had teams ready to go all in for them. Pat Cummins and Mitchell Starc, the Australian pace duo collectively accumulated 45.25 crores in the auction.
Pat Cummins broke Sam Curran’s record, breaking the 20 crores barrier. He was picked by Sunrisers Hyderabad for a whopping 20.50 crores and later Mitchell Starc became the most expensive buy in the history of IPL when Kolkata Knight Riders got him for 24.75 crores in an intense bidding war with Gujarat Titans.
2023 has been Pat Cummins’s year as he started by winning the World Test Championship and then he went on to retain the Ashes in England. Last month only, he led Australia to a record-extending sixth World Cup title and now hit the IPL jackpot to cap his year. As for left-arm pacer Mitchell Starc, he was always expected to be an expensive purchase but the duo received more than 45 crores which has left a lot of former India cricketers surprised.
However, the most interesting talking point was made by one of India’s greats, Anil Kumble, who questioned whether franchises should be allowed to spend such a huge amount on foreign players. Reinstating the fact that the tournament is called the Indian Premier League for a reason, Anil Kumble pointed out how teams should set a limit on the money that needs to be put on foreign cricketers.
“That’s where I think you seriously need to look at a separate purse for the overseas because otherwise, you will have players not coming into the big auction, especially the foreign players who are in demand. They will choose the smaller auction where you know that you’re going to go for a double-digit or even more and today was a classic example.
Yes, those two are exceptional players but Starc hasn’t played in the IPL since 2015. He isn’t the youngest of the lot, and Pat Cummins doesn’t have a great T20 record as a bowler. He is the captain of Australia, he’s done exceptionally for them,” Kumble said while speaking on Jio Cinema.
“To go for ₹45 crores on Starc and Cummins at an auction like this – yes this was unprecedented and we never thought that the 20 crore barrier would be broken – but I certainly believe that since only four players can play in the Playing XI and you have 8 out of the 25.
I think it’s only fair that you have a 40 or 45 percent salary of the overall cap for overseas guys. You have really high-quality Indian players. Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah, who will be looking at this and thinking what’s going on.”
Anil Kumble, Zaheer Khan, And RP Singh Questions IPL 2024 Auction Strategy For Mitchell Starc
Anil Kumble has a valid point. Mitchell Starc has 170 wickets to his name in 121 T20 matches at an economy rate of 7.45. He has played only two seasons of the IPL which was way back in 2014 and 2015 when he represented Royal Challengers Bangalore. He has taken 34 wickets from 27 matches in his brief IPL career as of now. Not only has he not featured in the IPL in the past eight years, Starc is yet to play a T20I in India.
Mitchell Satrc’s record in T20Is in Asian conditions is not very compelling. He has taken 39 wickets in 25 matches at an average of 19.17 and an economy of 7.69. These records don’t speak of someone who got 24.75 crores for an Indian T20 tournament. Anil Kumble was further supported for his statement by former teammate Zaheer Khan
Zaheer Khan weighed on Pat Cummins and Micthell Starc’s record-breaking day and added that although he expected the bowlers to bag the riches, two players going past the ₹20-crore mark was something surprising for his eyes. Even during the mock auction that was organized by JioCinema a day before, the maximum amount for a player was ₹18.50 crores, which incidentally happened to be for Mitchell Starc by Mike Hesson for Royal Challengers Bangalore.
“This is a great point by Anil because look at how IPL started. It began with icon players having 10-15 percent of the top players which you will have in the franchise. It meant that value and weightage were being given to Indian players. We don’t know how the dynamics are going to pan out if all the Indian players are put into the auction and their quality.
At some stage, I think the franchises will look at it. You don’t want players thinking that ‘It’s the Indian Premier League. I am the most premier player – doing well for the country and my IPL team – and not getting the value which the market is deciding. It will be interesting to see how much Bumrah will command in this type of a scenario, who has been a consistent performer over the years and a premier fast bowler,” the ex-India quick pointed out.
Mitchell Starc was picked by Kolkata Knight Riders in the 2018 mega auctions but he eventually missed out on the season because of an injury. He now has a second chance with the two-time IPL champions. The base price for Mitchell Starc was ₹2 crores and it was started by Mumbai Indians competing with Delhi Capitals. The two teams pulled off at 9.6 crores but then Gujarat Titans and Kolkata Knight Riders indulged in the most intense bidding war seen in the history of IPL with KKR emerging victorious with 24.75 crores for the left-arm pacer.
However, former India pacer RP Singh feels that Starc is not worth such a huge amount given he has not featured in the IPL for a long time. He said that it was surprising to see KKR spend such kind of money on Mitchell Starc.
“I am a little surprised with the money KKR spent on Starc. I didn’t feel that anyone would cross the ₹20 crore mark. The second thing is Mitchell Starc will be playing the IPL after a long time. It’s not that he has put up outstanding performances consistently. He has not played the IPL for eight years,” the 2007 T20 World Cup-winning pacer highlighted.
“And it’s not that he has played say five T20s and won three matches on the back of his own abilities. If they spend so much money on a player, then the captain may expect him to win 40 percent of the matches and ensure that the player has a solid impact on games. So, if I am born again, I should be born in Australia (laughs) and I should be a left-arm fast bowler again.”
Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins, and Daryl Mitchell were the three most expensive purchases in this year’s auction. Starc got 24.75 crores from KKR while Cummins was bought for 20.50 crores by SRH. Daryl Mitchell was poached in by Chennai Super Kings for 14.00 crores.
The IPL 2024 trading window will remain open until 30 days before the start of the tournament. There is a chance for teams to still make transfers and trade of players and strengthen their team according to their will. This will give an extra layer of safety if a player is injured before the start of the season.
