KOLKATA: Australian pacer Pat Cummins on Thursday became the most expensive foreign signing in the history of the Vivo Indian Premier League when returned to Kolkata Knight Riders which bid a jaw-dropping Rs 155 million for his services.
While the previous international record was held by England all-rounder Ben Stokes, who was signed for Rs 145 million in IPL 2017 by the now-defunct Rising Pune Supergiant, the record for the highest5 ever bid remains with Yuvraj Singh, who was signed by the then Delhi Daredevils for Rs 160 million in 2015.
Primarily a fast bowler, the Aussie can go hard at the bowlers while batting. He enjoys a strike-rate of 140.00 in the IPL, Sportstar reports.
Compatriot Glenn Maxwell earned himself a big payday as well, the hard-hitting batsmen signed by Kings XI Punjab for Rs 107.5 million after a tussle with Delhi Capitals, the most recent of Maxwell’s IPL employers, Cricbuzz reports. 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 Rs 90 million.
It is worth noting that while the franchises were allotted Rs 820 million each for the IPL 2019, Rs 850 million was allocated for the 2020 season. The franchises were originally allotted Rs 850 million to build their teams for 2020. Every franchise also had an additional purse of Rs 30 million in addition to the balance in their kitties from the last auction.
Big buys:
Pat Cummins – KKR – Rs 155m
Glenn Maxwell – KXIP – Rs 107.5m
Chris Morris – RCB – Rs 100m
Sheldon Cottrell – KXIP – Rs 85m
Nathan Coulter-Nile – MI – Rs 80m
Piyush Chawla – CSK – Rs 67.5m
Eoin Morgan – KKR – Rs 52.5m
Sam Curran – CSK – Rs 55m
Aaron Finch – RCB – Rs 44m
Robin Uthappa – RR – Rs 30m
Jaydev Unadkat – RR – Rs 30m
Alex Carey – DC – Rs 24m
Chris Lynn – MI – Rs 20m
Jason Roy – DC – Rs 15m
For full list of sold, unsold players, Click here…
