‘Madness of highest order’ – Fans react as Mitchell Starc sold for Rs 24.75 Cr to KKR, surpasses Pat Cummins to become most expensive buy in auction

Australia’s skipper Pat Cummins spent just a few hours in the spotlight on Tuesday, becoming the most expensive purchase in the history of the Indian Premier League auction on December 19. However, his Australian teammate and great fast bowler Mitchell Starc surpassed his record, bringing in an incredible payout for the two Australian pacers in the IPL 2024 Auction in Dubai.

Notably, Mitchell Starc wasn’t seen in the first few sets of the IPL mini-auction; however, he went on for a staggering sum of Rs 24.75 crore in Dubai. The left-arm pacer was purchased by Kolkata Knight Riders for Rs 24.75 crore, setting up a spectacular route back into the IPL. Meanwhile, Starc was last seen in action back in IPL 2015 under the captaincy of Virat Kohli in RCB.

However, to put things in perspective, the Kolkata Knight Riders caused a stir with their bid to sign Mitchell Starc, investing 25% of their entire purse in the player owing to his magnificent performance in the ODI World Cup 2023.

The Delhi Capitals and Mumbai Indians both made bids for Mitchell Starc

The Delhi Capitals and Mumbai Indians both made bids for Mitchell Starc; however, as the bidding war heated up the two strongholds had to cancel their offers owing to financial constraints. Meanwhile, the numbers were beyond what seemed reasonable, so both the Gujarat Titans and Kolkata Knight Riders joined on the excitement and went big to buy the Aussie star in the IPL 2024 mega auction.

KKR Slots Remaining: Twelve (Four Overseas)

Players released by KKR: Litton Das, Shakib Al Hasan, Shardul Thakur, Lockie Ferguson, Narayan Jagadeesan, Mandeep Singh, Aarya Desai, David Wiese, Kulwant Khejroliya, Umesh Yadav, Tim Southee and Johnson Charles.

Players retained by KKR: Rinku Singh (55 Lakhs), Varun Chakravarthy (8 crore), Venkatesh Iyer (8 crore), Nitish Rana (VC) (8 crore), Shreyas Iyer (C) (12.25 crore), Jason Roy (2.8 crore), Sunil Narine (6 crore), Rahmanullah Gurbaz (50 lakh), Suyash Sharma (20 lakh), Anukul Roy (20 lakh), Andre Russell (12 crore), Harshit Rana (20 lakh) and Vaibhav Arora (60 lakh).

Check out how fans have reacted to Mitchell Starc’s bid: