England all-rounder Sam Curran has been sold to Punjab Kings at a record Rs 18.50 crore for the upcoming Indian Premier League (IPL) season. Chris Morris was sold to Rajasthan Royals for Rs 16.25 crore in 2021
Our Bureau
Kochi (Kerala)
The Indian Premier League Auction 2023 was not only a jackpot for the likes of Sam Curran, Cameron Green, Ben Stokes, Harry Brook but it was also an auction that helped a few uncapped Indian players being picked by various IPL franchises.
Pace bowler Kulwant Khejroliya was bought by Kolkata Knight Riders for INR 20 lakh. If he gets picked in the playing XI of KKR, the pacer will have an opportunity to play under the captaincy of Shreyas Iyer and will be sharing the dressing room with players like Umesh Yadav, Shakib Al Hasan. Chennai Super Kings bought Ajay Mandal for INR 20 lakh. Mandal is a left-hand batter and bowler. The southpaw will join the squad which has some big names – Ravindra Jadeja, Ben Stokes, Deepak Chahar under the leadership of Mahendra Singh Dhoni. Another uncapped player bought by CSK was C Bhagat Varma.
All-rounder Mohit Rathee was bought by Punjab Kings for INR 20 lakh. The youngster will play alongside some big names like Sam Curran who was bought for a staggering INR 18.50 crore, Kagiso Rabada, Arshdeep Singh under the leadership of Shikhar Dhawan.
England all-rounder Sam Curran has been sold to Punjab Kings at a record Rs 18.50 crore for the upcoming Indian Premier League (IPL) season in 2023 on Friday. Chris Morris was sold to Rajasthan Royals for Rs 16.25 crore in 2021.
Sam Curran entered at INR 2 crore. Mumbai Indians (MI) made the first move for Curran. And the bidding war begins between MI and Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB). Frenetic raising of paddles at both tables as the bid zooms up to Rs 6 crore.
The bid kept going back and forth between MI and Rajasthan Royals (RR). RR was back in the lead at Rs 11.5 crore. MI tapped out.
Chennai Super Kings (CSK) then jumped in with Rs 11.75 crore bid. Both MS Dhoni and Stephen Fleming back to Curran to perform any role at CSK.
PBKS also bid for Sam Curran, Punjab was Curran’s first franchise in the IPL.
The bid quickly zoomed past Rs 15 crore with CSK taking the lead at Rs 15.25 crore.
PBKS raised the paddle as the bidding war continued.
Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) jumped in at Rs 15.75 crore. They need to fill the Holder-sized void. The bid touched Rs 16.5 crore. Sam Curran has fetched the highest-ever bid at an IPL auction. Talking about Curran’s performance, he was the second-highest wicket-taker in T20 World Cup this year with a total of 13 scalps, with best bowling figures of 5/10.
The 24-year-old is also a solid batter, with 1,731 T20I runs in 109 innings at an average of 20.85 and nine fifties.
India batter Mayank Agarwal was acquired by Sunrisers Hyderabad for INR 8.25 crore in the ongoing Indian Premier League 2023 Auction on Friday. India batter Mayank Agarwal asked for bids at 1 crore. In the auction Chennai Super Kings (CSK) entered the fray, with the bid at 3.4 Crore. SRH the enter the bid with 4 Crore. Hyderabad then improved their bid with 5.75 Crore. The bids crossed 7 Crore. SRH bid at 8.25 Crore, which was also set as the selling price. Mayank Agarwal to SRH 8.25 Crore.
Picked up by Punjab Kings in 2018, Mayank was a mainstay of its top order and scored consistently in 2019 (332 runs), 2020 (424 runs) and 2021 (441 runs). In 2022 season, he took over the team’s captaincy from KL Rahul. But his form faced a major dip, with him being able to score only 196 runs in 13 matches at an average of 16.33, with one fifty. After this season, he was released. This was in stark contrast with his numbers in 2020 and 2021, in which he scored 424 and 441 runs respectively for the team.
West Indies opener Chris Gayle mentioned that he is thrilled to be back in India and is excited to see the surprises the IPL 2023 auction holds.
“It’s going to be interesting when the IPL auction comes about. Some surprises, big money will be spent, will have to wait and watch. It’s good to be back in India,” expressed Chris Gayle who is a part of JioCinema’s Expert Panel for the IPL Player Auction.. The IPL 2023 auction will be held in Kochi as franchises line up to rope in players for the vacant spots up for grabs.
Talking about opportunities off the field rather than on the field he said that he has been looking for something new.
“I am actually looking for something new for me now, more off the field. Looking on at a particular auction which is something new and I’m venturing into it as well. A bit of a mock-up auction as well, which was fantastic and fun,” said Gayle.
Predicting the cash-rich auction to be dominated by all-rounders, he mentioned the top-three names that would earn the biggest paycheques in the auction.
“Those guys are very very hot, Sam Curran, Ben Stokes, and Cameron Green as well. Those are the three names I am hearing more than often and that seems to me teams will be targeting them as well,” mentioned the Jamaican.
He also stated that the English players will benefit in the auction having won the T20 World Cup this year. “With England winning the T20 World Cup it’s going to play a big part in it as well. Especially for Sam and Ben. So, it’s going to be some money money money,” said the left-hander.
Zimbabwe all-rounder Sikandar Raza expressed happiness after being bought by Punjab Kings for the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 in the auction, saying that playing in the league was on his radar before retiring from the sport and being of Punjabi roots and being in Punjab franchise is a “great match”
Raza has played in many leagues all over the world, be it Pakistan Super League (PSL), the Caribbean Premier League (CPL), the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) and Lanka Premier League (LPL). Now, he will be a part of the most high-profile league of them all, IPL. The Zimbabwe allrounder, who has roots in Punjab, was quoted as saying to ESPNCricinfo, “It was part of my thinking that before I hang my boots up, it would be nice to have the IPL on my CV. Alhamdulillah (thank God) it has happened. I am really happy, humble and excited at the same time. I would have been fine with any franchise but to have a Punjabi munda in Punjab, it is a great match.”
“I was in training today. I was calm. Sometimes I was nervous. I went through all the emotions before the auction.”
“We went back to the hotel. Then there was an anti-corruption meeting [while the auction was on]. When it was my turn at the IPL auction, I was moving from one room to another, and the internet got disconnected. While it was connecting back again, I started getting a lot of messages from my friends, congratulating me. I said, ‘what, I cannot see it. Are you guys playing a prank?’ They said check the auction. I said I am checking but I haven’t even been up there.”
“What happened was, by the time I reconnected, I had gone already. So basically, I did not see the bid. Maybe that was a good thing actually. I reckon it is a good thing. If I was watching, I would have shouted in the meeting,” concluded the all-rounder.
Raza has been in superb form this year. He helped Zimbabwe beat Bangladesh in both white-ball formats and scored a century against India. He also secured first win against Australia in Australia.
He scored 735 runs in 24 matches across 23 innings at an average of 35.00, with five fifties. He has also taken 25 wickets this year. He also performed well in T20 WC this year, scoring 219 runs in 8 matches, with one fifty. He also took 10 wickets in the tournament. They finished at the 11th spot in the tournament. “It has been incredible. It has been life and career changing. Every time I have won a Player-of-the-Match trophy, I kiss my mum’s hand and give her the trophy. The best part of these few months is that I have handed her over a lot of trophies. I think the trophy cabinet is full now. To sum it up, I would say that making my parents proud has been the highlight,” said Raza.
