Punjab Kings broke the bank for England all-rounder Sam Curran when they shelled a whopping ₹18.5 crore at the IPL Auctions 2023. Curran broke the record of being the most expensive pick as he broke the record held by South Africa all-rounder Chris Morris, on whom the Rajasthan Royals had spent ₹16.5 crore at the IPL 2021 auction.
As expected, Curran led the second group of players – capped all-rounders – and joined Cameron Green of Australia and England Test captain Ben Stokes as the most expensive players ever.
Mumbai vs Punjab at the Auction Table
Curran came in with a base price of ₹2 crore and saw a massive bidding war. Within the first 10 seconds, his price shot up to ₹9 crore with Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers Bangalore in a heated tussle. However, when the price shot past the 10-crore mark, MI backed off and Rajasthan Royals jumped in. Chennai Super Kings too entered the fray and tested their luck with ₹11 crore. However, PBKS stayed put and snapped him up for ₹15.25 crore.
Curran, 24, has so far played 32 matches so far in the IPL so far. He has picked up 32 wickets and has scored 337 runs. Although he was not at his best in IPL 2021, he was the star for England in the T20 World Cup. He was Player of the Final and the Tournament at the 2022 T20 World Cup in Australia. Since September this year, he has picked up 25 wickets in 14 T20s at an economy rate of 7.08. His batting has seen a remarkable improvement against spin – in 31 T20 innings since 2020, he has scored his runs at an average of 27.07 and with a strike rate of 154.69.
Mumbai Indians Go all out for Cameron Green
Mumbai Indians, however, did snap up Cameron Green for INR 17.50 crore. This has made the Australian allrounder the second most expensive player in IPL auction history. Green is the perfect replacement for Kieron Pollard and will give perfect balance to the 5-time IPL champions.
Big Payday for England players
England allrounder and Test captain Ben Stokes continues to be a hot pick at the IPL auctions when he became the costliest signing by Chennai Super Kings. CSK snapped him up for INR 16.25 crore.
Christmas came early for another England player as Harry Brook was snapped up Sunrisers Hyderabad for INR 13.25 crore (USD 1.6 million approx). This too is the most the franchise has paid for any overseas batter at the IPL auction.
They also picked up the services of Indian batter Mayank Agarwal for INR 8.25 crore. Agarwal could well be the captain of SRH.
