Edging previous Yuvraj Singh’s Rs 16-crore contract for Delhi Daredevils in 2015, South African allrounder Chris Morris became the most pricey IPL player ever, going for Rs 16.25 crore to Rajasthan Royals at the Twenty20 league’s higher-profile annual auction Thursday.
New Zealand allrounder Kyle Jamieson came close but fell brief, with Royal Challengers Bangalore taking him for Rs 15 crore. After a fierce bidding war in between Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and RCB, Australian Glenn Maxwell was sold to the Bengaluru-based franchise for Rs 14.25 crore. At Rs 14 crore, CSK pulled out of the race.
In other massive buys, Kings XI Punjab, renamed as Punjab Kings, bagged Australian pacer Jhye Richardson for Rs 14 crore, and spent Rs 8 crore for uncapped Aussie quick bowler Riley Meredith.
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Among the Indian players, off-spinner K Gowtham became a millionaire by way of CSK’s Rs 9.25 crore invest in when Punjab signed uncapped Tamil Nadu batsman Shahrukh Khan for Rs 5.25 crore.
In all, the 2021 IPL auction at Chennai threw up fireworks and surprises regardless of not getting a complete auction and the majority of the teams currently obtaining a settled core group.
Morris is a difficult-hitting batsman and a leading death-overs bowler. And RCB had released him this term, hoping to resign him at a lesser quantity than the Rs 10 crore it had shelled out final year. Today, the franchise was firmly in the bidding war, along with Mumbai Indians, Punjab and Royals. But Royals had been determined to have him, in particular with high-quality pace-bowling allrounders at a premium and their availability figuring out the auction dynamics.
“He (Morris) is a quality bowler through all phases of the game, and can win us games with the bat too. We did stretch, that was our last bid, luckily Kings held back. Delighted to have him back with the Royals,” the franchise CEO Jake Lush McRum mentioned.
Death-overs bowling had been a weak location for Royals final year, with only England’s Jofra Archer to fall back on. The acquisitions of Morris and Bangladesh pacer Mustafizur Rahman indicated that they wanted to plug the void.
Morris hasn’t played any competitive cricket immediately after final year’s IPL. With an injury history, the 33-year-old missed the initial matches of the tournament in the UAE and turned up only in nine matches, scoring 34 runs and taking 11 wickets at an economy price of 6.63.
As a franchise official told on auction eve: “The entire auction dynamics depend on requirements and utility. If a team is looking to have a certain type of player, then subject to the purse available, it can go big to have him.”
Royals came to the auction with Rs 37.85 crore in their kitty. Apart from death-overs bowling, they wanted to have a massive-hitting Indian batsman in the middle-order who could bowl as nicely. Shivam Dube at Rs 4.4 crore may serve their requirement.
Maxwell had an underwhelming IPL final year, with 108 runs from 13 matches and just 3 wicket. But in the T20I series against India Down Under that followed the IPL, he scored at a strike-price of 150. And in the ODI series against India, he upped his strike-price to 194.18, scoring 167 runs in 3 matches.
“It very much depends on what role each team wants him (Maxwell) to play. In our team he could be used very much as (a) finisher role. Obviously he is a multi-skilled player, he is good in the field and obviously he is able to bowl off-spin. We all know how good a touch he (is in) away from the IPL,” RCB director of cricket Mike Hesson mentioned at the press conference.
Immediately immediately after he was secured by RCB, Maxwell tweeted: “Looking forward to joining @RCBTweets for this years @IPL Can’t wait to put everything I have in to helping us lift the trophy!”
Despite getting an IPL heavyweight, the title has remained elusive to RCB. They have Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers up the order and necessary an influence player reduced down. Maxwell fitted the bill.
CSK, also, badly wanted him on board, but immediately after a point their obtainable auction purse, Rs 19.90 crore, became an impediment. As a franchise insider hinted Wednesday, the 3-time champions had been searching to rope in a couple of spin allrounders – one of them a massive-hitter – to make the side more balanced. They spent more than 16 crore from their auction purse on Moeen Ali (Rs 7 crore) and Gowtham.
“Some of the areas where we were focusing on, allrounders and a little bit of power-hitting. Moeen has always contributed with both bat and ball. We are happy with the buys,” CSK bowling coach Lakshmipathy Balaji mentioned.
Jamieson created an influence through India’s tour of New Zealand in early 2020. He was the most economical bowler in the ODI series. He troubled the Indian batsmen by way of steep bounce he extracted off the decks. In the not too long ago concluded Test series against Pakistan, the 26-year-old was in leading type, bagging a couple of 5-fors.
But Jamieson is a newbie in Indian situations, like Richardson and Meredith. Then once more, each are tearaway quicks and immediately after Anrich Nortje’s accomplishment for Delhi Capitals in the final year’s IPL, who hurled thunderbolts in excess of 150kph, teams look to have fallen for pace.