England all-rounder Sam Curran has become the costliest player sold in the history of the Indian Premier League (IPL) auction. The 24-year-old Curran was bought by Punjab Kings for Rs 18.50 crore in the mini-auction held in Kochi on Friday.
Nicholas Pooran is the most expensive wicketkeeper of all time. He was bought by Lucknow Super Giants for 16 crores. The mini-auction started at 2.30 pm on Friday and went on till 8.30 pm i.e. for 6 hours.
The teams had a total purse of Rs 206.5 crore and a maximum of 87 players could be bought. However, all 10 teams together spent only Rs 167 crore and bought 80 players. All-rounders were in high demand. Rs 103.95 crore was spent on them. This is 62.25% of the amount spent in the auction.
The names of 405 players were in the auction. However, only 153 players bid. 73 remained unsold and 80 players found buyers. These include 29 foreign and 51 Indian players.
Five Indian bowlers may be banned
BCCI has said that 5 Indian bowlers included in the auction may be banned for their suspicious actions. Which includes spinner Tanush of Mumbai, Rohan of Kerala, Apoorva Wankhede of Vidarbha, Chirag Gandhi of Gujarat, and Ramakrishnan Ghosh of Maharashtra.
Sam Curran has become the costliest player in IPL auction history. Punjab bought him for Rs 18.50 crore. The previous record of the most expensive player was in the name of Chris Morris of South Africa. He got Rs 16.25 crore. Cameron Green (Rs 17.50 crore) also left behind Morris’ record.
Another record was created in IPL auction history. Nicholas Pooran of the West Indies is the costliest seller so far as a wicketkeeper. He was bought by Lucknow Super Giants for 16 crores. Earlier, the highest-paid wicket-keeper was Mumbai’s Ishan Kishan (15.25 crores).
In the auction of uncapped players, the bid on Vivrant Sharma of Jammu and Kashmir surprised everyone. Vivrant, capable of batting with left spin bowling, was bought by Sunrisers for Rs 2.6 crore. Uncapped fast bowler Shivam Mavi was also bought by Titans for Rs 6 crore.
Apart from him, Bengal pacer Mukesh Kumar was bought by Delhi for 5.50 crores. Left-handed pacer Josh Little, who took a hat-trick against New Zealand in the T20 World Cup, also got a big bid. He was bought by Gujarat Titans for 4.40 crores. He was in the IPL auction for the first time.