Pay day for Cummins, Maxwell

Kolkata, December 19

Australian cricketers hit pay dirt at the IPL players’ auction with pacer Pat Cummins becoming the most expensive foreign buy ever in the league by fetching Rs 15.50 crore from two-time champions Kolkata Knight Riders here today. All-rounder Glenn Maxwell, who was not considered for the upcoming ODI series against India in January, returned to Kings XI Punjab with a price tag of Rs 10.75 crore after an intense bidding war with Delhi Capitals. KXIP went into the auction with the biggest available purse of Rs 42.70 crore.

The 31-year-old Maxwell has been on his way back to cricket after taking a sudden break to deal with mental health issues earlier this year.

Nathan Coulter-Nile also enjoyed a million dollar payday at the auction as Mumbai Indians shelled out Rs 8 crore for the pacer.

Australia’s limited-overs captain Aaron Finch went for Rs 4.40 crore to Royal Challengers Bangalore. Finch, who had opted out of the 2019 IPL, also attracted a bid from KKR. All-rounder Marcus Stoinis was sold to Delhi Capitals for Rs 4.8 crore, while pacer Kane Richardson will go home richer by Rs 4 crore after being bought by RCB.

Australia’s big-hitting all-rounder Chris Lynn, who was released by KKR ahead of the auction, was bought for his base price of Rs 2 crore by defending champions Mumbai Indians, whose opening bid became the winning bid. Similar was the case of seamer Josh Hazlewood, who went for his steep base price of Rs 2 crore to Chennai Super Kings.

Bidding war

A bidding war for the 26-year-old Cummins was on expected lines as he has been in top form with the ball and at times has also proved his worth with the bat.

“Can’t wait,” tweeted Cummins after KKR head coach Brendon McCullum posted a welcome message for him on the micro-blogging site.

Delhi Capitals and Royal Challengers Bangalore were engaged in an intense bidding war for the Australian before KKR joined the battle at Rs 15 crore and eventually outbid the two franchises. Cummins has taken 32 wickets in 25 IPL matches so far with an economy of just over 6. He is also the No. 1 bowler in ICC Test rankings and has 92 wickets in 77 career T20 matches at an economy of little above 7. With the price he fetched, Cummins broke the record for the most expensive foreign buy held by Ben Stokes. England all-rounder Stokes was bought by Rising Pune Supergiant for Rs 14.5 crore in the 2017 auction. It also marks Cummins’ return to KKR. The pacer has also played for Mumbai Indians and Delhi Capitals.

Caribbean flavour

Another big buy at the auction was South African Chris Morris, who was sold for Rs 10 crore to Royal Challengers Bangalore. West Indies pacer Sheldon Cottrell, with a base price of Rs 50 lakh, fetched a winning bid of Rs 8.50 crore from Kings XI Punjab.

Another Caribbean star, Shimron Hetmyer, was expectedly a sought-after entity for his big-hitting abilities and went to Delhi Capitals for Rs 7.75 crore. The left-hander had a base price of Rs 50 lakh. — PTI

Cummins hits jackpot

Fast bowler Pat Cummins broke the record for the most expensive foreign buy held by Ben Stokes. England all-rounder Stokes was bought by Rising Pune Supergiant for Rs14.5 crore in the 2017 auction. Australian Cummins is the world’s No. 1 bowler in Tests, No. 5 in ODIs but only No. 23 in T20Is

Big Bucks

Money spent: Rs1.4 billion (approximately)

Slots vacant: 73

Slots filled: 62

Overseas players bought: 29

Biggest buy: Pat Cummins (Australia, Kolkata Knight Riders) Rs15.50 crore

Biggest Indian buy:

Piyush Chawla (India, Chennai Super Kings) Rs6.75 crore

Other top buys

Chris Morris (SA, Allrounder)

Rs 10 crore (Royal Challengers Bangalore)

Sheldon Cottrell (WI, fast bowler) Rs8.5 crore (Kings XI Punjab)

Shimron Hetmyer (WI, batsman) Rs7.75 crore (Delhi Capitals)

Eoin Morgan (Eng, batsman) Rs5.25 crore (Kolkata Knight Riders)

No takers

Cheteshwar Pujara and Hanuma Vihara went unsold. Youngest entrant, Afghanistan’s 14-year-old Noor Ahmed, also didn’t have any takers

Leg-spinner Pravin Tambe, who was the oldest player in the list, was snapped up by KKR at his base price of Rs20 lakh