Mitchell Starc became the most pricey signing in Indian Premier League history on Tuesday (December 19), when the Kolkata Knight Riders paid INR 24.75 crores for the left-arm bowler at the IPL 2024 auction. KKR’s record signing fee eclipsed the INR 20.50 crores paid by Sunrisers Hyderabad for his compatriot Pat Cummins earlier in the same auction. The Australian fast-bowling duo were the first two players in auction history to earn more than INR 20 crore in salary, easily surpassing Sam Curran’s INR 18.50 crore payout last year.

Starc, who hasn’t participated in the IPL in eight years, claimed 34 wickets at an outstanding economy of 7.17 from 27 games in the 2014 and 2015 seasons. The 33-year-old has taken 170 wickets at an economy rate of 7.45 in 121 T20 games. Gujarat Titans pushed KKR to land this player with an established white-ball pedigree, eliciting gasps and applause from the spectators at Dubai’s Coca-Cola Arena. Starc was signed by the Knight Riders for INR 9.40 crores the previous time he went up for auction in 2018. He missed that season due to a leg injury and was terminated from his contract the following year due to contractual disagreements with Cricket Australia.

“It’s obviously humbling to still, I guess, feel like I’m wanted or needed anyway,” Starc said to JioCinema. “So hopefully that experience I’ve had for a few years now will translate into success in… obviously leading up to the IPL and, hopefully, adding some of that to the KKR list.”

“Yeah, it’s been a while. I was involved with RCB in 2014 and 2015, and then picked up in 2018, but missed out due to injuries. And then I really prioritized international cricket and wanted to prioritize Test cricket as well, playing as much and as well as I could for Australia. Then, by the end of this year and into the next, the Australian group will be much quieter on the international scene. So this is a fantastic opportunity to rejoin the IPL. “Of course, a T20 World Cup is coming up in the middle of next year, and a great opportunity to play some highly competitive T20 cricket in the best T20 league going around with the world-class players that we see on all the lists,” he continued.

Big payday for the fast men

Overseas fast bowlers were the order of the day, and before Starc could raise the bar really high, he had to clear Cummins’ record. The Australian captain was courted ardently by SRH and Royal Challengers Bangalore before the 2016 champions, with a larger purse, won the hammer.

Cummins has had an incredible year, leading Australia to an ODI World Cup victory, a World Test Championship title, and a drawn-away Ashes series. The 30-year-old, on the other hand, has a mediocre IPL record, having taken 45 wickets from 42 games at an economy rate of 8.54.

After missing out on Cummins and having a major bowling-attack redesign on their hands prior to the auction, RCB spent INR 11.50 crores on West Indies fast bowler Alzarri Joseph, while their former player Harshal Patel became the Indian player with the highest signing amount on the day when Punjab Kings made a winning bid of INR 11.75 crores, outlasting the Titans.

The Titans, who entered the auction with the largest budget of INR 38.15 crores, made their big-money deal late in the expedited round by signing Australian left-arm fast bowler Spencer Johnson for INR 10 crores, beating out Delhi Capitals.

Among Indian seamers, Shivam Mavi was signed for INR 6.40 crores by Lucknow Super Giants, while Umesh Yadav (GT) and Shardul Thakur (CSK) were signed for INR 5.80 crores and INR 4 crores, respectively.

Mumbai Indians also recruited a trio of quick bowlers, albeit at a lower cost. They recruited Gerald Coetzee of South Africa for INR 5 crores, as well as Nuwan Thushara and Dilshan Madushanka of Sri Lanka for INR 4.8 and 4.6 crores, respectively.

The five highest bids at the auction

Price (In Cr)	Player	Team
24.75	Mitchell Starc	KKR
20.5	Pat Cummins	SRH
14	Daryl Mitchell	CSK
11.75	Harshal Patel	PBKS
11.5	Alzarri Joseph	RCB

World Cup stars get gigs

Outside the fast bowlers, defending champions CSK bid INR 14 crore for New Zealand’s Daryl Mitchell, who also added his compatriot and World Cup player Rachin Ravindra to their squad for INR 1.8 crore. Mitchell and Ravindra both had good seasons as the Black Caps advanced to the World Cup semifinals in India. Mitchell struck two hundreds against India, and Ravindra Jadeja, 23, became the first New Zealand hitter to achieve three World Cup centuries in a single tournament.

Meanwhile, Travis Head, who last played in the IPL in 2017, received an INR 6.80 crore bid from SRH following his World Cup exploits, which included a century against India in the final.

The Rajasthan Royals made an early impact at the auction, spending more than half their purse amount to recruit Rovman Powell for INR 7.4 crores to add much-needed strength to their lower-middle order, like they did last year. The Royals pursued English batting sensation Harry Brook for a second year, but dropped out after the Delhi Capitals signed him for INR 4 crores, down from INR 13.25 crores from the Sunrisers previous year.

Rizvi leads uncapped players’ splash

Uncapped Uttar Pradesh batter Sameer Rizvi got himself a gig worth INR 8.4 crores in the second half of the auction when five-time champions CSK outlasted Gujarat Titans and a late effort at a theft from Delhi Capitals. Rizvi made headlines earlier this year when he smashed the most sixes as well as two centuries, including the quickest in the competition, in the UP T20 league. Rizvi shone even at the Under-23 level for his state, scoring two hundreds in knockout competitions and a 50-ball 84 in the final to help UP win the title.

Among uncapped Indian players, Shahrukh Khan found a new home with the Titans for INR 7.4 crores, despite Punjab Kings’ best efforts to re-sign the player they had released prior to the auction.

Kumar Kushagra of Jharkhand hammered 67 off 37 in a chase of 355 against Maharashtra in the recent Vijay Hazare Trophy, sparking a three-way competition between CSK, GT, and DC before signing for INR 7.2 crores with the Capitals.

Other notable buys

Rilee Rossouw – Punjab Kings – INR 8 crores

Shubham Dubey – Rajasthan Royals – INR 5.8 crores

Yash Dayal – Royal Challengers Bangalore – INR 5 crores

Jhye Richardson – Delhi Capitals – INR 5 crores

Chris Woakes – Punjab Kings – INR 4.2 crores

Robin Minz – Gujarat Titans – INR 3.6 crores

M. Siddharth – Lucknow Super Giants – INR 2.4 crores

Lockie Ferguson – Royal Challengers Bangalore – INR 2 crores

Jaydev Unadkat – Sunrisers Hyderabad – INR 1.6 crores

Wanindu Hasaranga – Sunrisers Hyderabad – INR 1.5 crores

Azmatullah Omarzai – Gujarat Titans – INR 50 lakhs