KOCHI, DEC 23 : England’s Sam Curran became the most expensive player ever in the IPL after he was sold to Punjab Kings for a whopping Rs 18.5 crore in the second round of IPL 2023 auction here on Friday.

Previously, Chris Morris was the most expensive player after Rajasthan Royals had bought him in 2021. Yuvaraj Singh was the first ever player to register as the costliest player when he was purchased for Rs 16 crore in the 2015 auction.

Pat Cummins (15.5 in 2020) and Kyle Jamieson (15 in 2021) are the other players to be signed for Rs 15 crore or more at an IPL mini auction.

There was an intense bidding for Curran as Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) pushed the bid up to Rs 7 crore, and that’s when Rajasthan Royals (RR) chipped in.

RCB exited shortly thereafter as RR and MI continued to engage in a fierce bidding war. Chennai Super Kings (CSK), Punjab Kings (PK) and Lucknow SuperGiants (LSG) entered the fray shortly before Punjab won the war.

Curran, who was the Player of the T20 World Cup in Australia earlier this year, bagged 13 wickets, including a 3/12 in the final against Pakistan, which won him the Player of the Match award.

The left-arm pacer played for Chennai Super Kings in the 2020 and 2021 seasons, but was not available for IPL mega auction in February 2022, citing rehabilitation from a back injury as the reason for opting out.

Curran made his IPL debut for Punjab Kings, who had bought him for Rs. 7.2 crore in 2019. He has scored 337 runs at a strike rate of 149.78 and also taken 32 wickets at an economy of 9.21, in 32 plus games in three seasons.

Dashing Australian white-ball Cameron Green was bought by the most successful franchise Mumbai Indians for a mind boggling Rs 17.5 crore.

His base price was Rs 2 crore and will be making his IPL debut.

Green can turn out to be a perfect replacement for Kieron Pollard who retired from IPL earlier this year and has donned the role of MI’s batting coach. He had burst on the scene as a pacer for Western Australia, but soon transformed into a very good allrounder after honing his batting skills.

The Aussie is now counted among the most dangerous allrounders around the world with his towering 6-feet-6 height playing to his advantage.

The world would have missed the show of Green at the T20 World Cup if Australia’s reserve wicketkeeper Josh Inglis would not have been ruled out due to injury. But unfortunately Australia failed to defend their title on home soil.

Green made his mark in Australia’s tour to India with his aggressive strokelay.

In Mohali T20 this year, the 23 year-old smoked the Indian bowlers all round the park for a 30-ball 61 as Australia succeeded in chasing down a mammoth 20 for 6 to beat India.

All eyes will be on Green in the 2023 IPL season, and could turn out to be the X-factor for the Rohit Sharma-led MI.

England captain Ben Stokes went to Chennai Super Kings (CSK) at a whopping amount of 16.25 crore. He became the third most expensive buy in the tournament after Sam Curran (18.50 cr) and Cameron Green ( 17.25 cr).

Stokes has 920 IPL runs under his belt in 42 innings at an average of 25 and at a strike rate of 134.5, and smacked two centuries and as many fifties with 107 as his highest score.

In the first round of the auction, England batsman Harry Brook was sold to Sunrisers Hyderabad for a whopping Rs 13.25 crore at the 2023 IPL Auction after an intense bidding war.

RR and RCB were engaged in the competition in the opening round of bidding, but the latter dropped out of the bid when the bid reached Rs 5 crore. At this stage Hyderabad entered at Rs 5.25 crore, and there ensued an intense bidding between Hyderabad and Rajasthan franchises.

Rajasthan raised the baton at Rs 10 crore, but in quick reply Hydrabad leaped forward to Rs 10.25 crore. Eventually it was the franchise with the biggest purse that managed to bag him.

His base rice was at Rs 1.50 crore.

Brook, who offers stability in the middle order, has already established himself as one of the batting pillars in the shortest format. He has scored 372 runs, at an average of 26.57 and a strike rate of 137.77 in 20 T20I matches.

In the recently concluded Test series against Pakistan, Brook struck three centuries by facing some of the world’s best bowlers. He became the youngest centurion for Lahore Qalandars in the Pakistan Super League.

Sunrisers Hyderabad also grabbed Myank Agarwal after an intense bidding war with Chennai Super Kings. He was sold for Rs 8.25 crore.

Kane Williamson was sold to Gujarat Titans at his base price of Rs 2 crore.

Ajinkya Rahane went to CSK for Rs 50 lakh.

Both Shakib Al Hasan and Joe Root had gone unsold in the first round, they were bought over by KKR and RR for Rs 1.5 crore and Rs 1 crore.

As many as 405 players went under the hammer.(UNI)