This year, Christmas came early for a bunch of cricketers around the globe as they went under the hammer to be bought with million-dollar price tags in the Indian Premier League (IPL) mini auction in Kochi on Friday. English cricketers, who beat Pakistan to win the Twenty20 World Cup recently, were the flavour of the auction as the IPL teams jostled to rope in the likes of Ben Stokes, Sam Curran and Harry Brook.
Unsurprisingly, the trio were the biggest earners in the auction with Curran going for the highest-ever bid of Rs 18.5 crore in the tournament's auction history. The deal secured by Punjab Kings surpassed the previous highest bid for South Africa all-rounder Chris Morris, who was bought for Rs 16.25 crore by Rajasthan Royals in 2021. In fact, that mark was breached twice in 15 minutes on Friday. After Punjab secured the services of Curran, Mumbai Indians -- who missed out on buying the all-rounder -- broke the bank for another exciting all-rounder in Australian Cameron Green with a bid of Rs 17.5 crore. Not long after, England captain Stokes was bought by Chennai Super Kings for a price tag of Rs 16.25 crore, equalling the 2021 bid for Morris.
All-rounders have always fetched big money for the utility they offer to teams. However, a standout deal sealed in Kochi was that for England's new batting sensation Brook, who was bought by Sunrisers Hyderabad for a whopping Rs 13.25 crore for his maiden IPL contract. Brook, who made his T20I debut for England in January, came into the limelight in Pakistan with a series of big scores in the shortest format and then also starred in the 3-0 Test series win with three impressive centuries. He is now the costliest overseas batter, getting past Chris Lynn, who fetched Rs 9.6 crore in 2018. Brook's fee is also the overall second-highest for a specialist batter after Yuvraj Singh's Rs 16 crore. Sunrisers could manage to hand this big pay cheque to Brook after they let go West Indian swashbuckler Nicholas Pooran, who was quickly lapped up by Lucknow Super Giants for Rs 16 crore in another eye-catching deal at the latest auction.
Meanwhile in a landmark occasion for Ireland, Joshua Little became the first cricketer from the associate country to earn an IPL contract with a Rs 4.4 crore bid from defending champions Gujarat Titans. Another player who will get his first taste of the IPL is all-rounder Sikandar Raza, who became the first Zimbabwean to be bought at an IPL auction since Brendan Taylor in 2014. Raza, one of the standout players at the T20 World Cup, was bought for his base price of Rs 50 lakh in a steal deal by Punjab.
The IPL auctions have always thrown mind-boggling numbers and made cricketers million-dollar assets. This mini auction had the highest aggregate of Rs 167 crore spent, surpassing Rs 145.3 crore spent last year. These Rs 167 crore were spent by the 10 franchises for signing 80 players in the 87 slots available to them. With the infusion of English star players, the exponents of the current buzzword in cricket -- the Bazball -- the upcoming ISL season is set to be another hit.
