Pat Cummins has become the most expensive overseas signing in IPL history on Thursday with Kolkata Knight Riders picking up the top-ranked Test bowler for a whopping INR 15.50 crore at the IPL 2020 auction. The signing amount was a full crore more than what Rising Pune Supergiant spent on Ben Stokes in IPL 2017 - the previous record price for an overseas player.
Knight Riders swooped in with a bid only at the INR 15 crore mark just after Royal Challengers Bangalore appeared to have won a protracted bidding war with the Delhi Capitals.
Cummins has represented the Knight Riders in the past, playing four games for the franchise between the 2014 and 2015 seasons. In all, he has taken 17 wickets from 16 IPL games at an economy of 8.29. In T20Is, however, the 26-year-old’s economy drops to an excellent 6.78.
Compatriot Glenn Maxwell earned himself a big payday as well, the hard-hitting batsmen was signed by Kings XI Punjab for INR 10.75 crore after a tussle with Delhi Capitals, the most recent of Maxwell’s IPL employers. The 31-year-old Maxwell has played for the Mohali-based franchise in the past, his best season (2014) leading to the team’s run to the final of the competition -- their best finish so far. Incidentally, Delhi had signed Maxwell in the 2018 season for INR 9 crore.
As anticipated, all-rounders came with big value propositions attached to them. Chris Morris was the third player to hit the INR 10 cr mark with Royal Challengers Bangalore outlasting both KXIP and Mumbai Indians to secure the services of the South African all-rounder.
Morris was retained by the Delhi Capitals ahead of the 2018 auction for INR 11 crore and released this year after two below par season at the Feroz Shah Kotla. More recently in the 2019 Mzansi Super League, Morris took 10 wickets from 11 games at an economy of 8.20
and scored 122 runs at a strike-
rate of 176.
Sam Curran, England’s left-arm seamer, came down slightly from his last season price of INR 7.20 crore but found a new home in Chennai with the Super Kings signing him for INR 5.5 crore.
The Super Kings, who lost out on Nathan Coulter-Nile (INR 8.5 cr) after a big bidding war with Mumbai Indians, then picked up Piyush Chawla for a whopping INR 6.75 crore despite already possessing two legspinners in Imran Tahir and Karn Sharma.
Left-armers continued to bring home the moolah with Sheldon Cottrell earning 17 time his base price of 50lakh with Kings XI Punjab shelling out INR 8.5 crores for him, beating competition from Rajasthan Royals and Delhi Capitals. Jaydev Unadkat, meanwhile, saw another depreciation to his value but went back to Rajasthan Royals for INR 3 crore, down from the INR 8.4 crore they’d paid for his services last year.
