Australian pace bowler Mitchell Starc became the most expensive player to be auctioned in the Indian Premier League (IPL) on Tuesday after Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) secured him for a whopping INR 247.5 million ($3 million).
Starc broke the record held by his teammate and Australian skipper Pat Cummins who was purchased by Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) for INR 205 million ($ 2.5 million) during the IPL auction in Dubai.
The bidding war for Starc started between Delhi Capitals (DC) and Mumbai Indians (MI), while KKR and Gujarat Titans (GT) joined it later.
Earlier, SRH was engaged in a bidding war with Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) for Cummins.
Both Cummins and Starc started at a base price of INR 20 million ($240,000).
Cummins became the first player in IPL history to breach the 200-million mark. Earlier, England all-rounder Sam Curran held the record of being the most expensive player in the history of IPL after Punjab Kings acquired him for INR 185 million ($2.1 million) in a 2023 auction.
Apart from Starc and Cummins, the other players for whom teams had opened up their banks include New Zealand’s Daryl Mitchell, who was acquired by Chennai Super Kings (CSK) for INR 140 million ($1.7 million), Indian medium pacer Harshal Patel who was secured by Punjab Kings for INR 117.5 million ($1.4 million), and West Indies all-rounder Alzarri Joseph who went to RCB for INR 115 million ($1.38 million).