Mitch Starc breaks Pat Cummins’ IPL record in just ONE HOUR as Kolkata Knights pay $4.42 MILLION for Australian star’s services as paceman beats captain’s prize in incredible auction

Australian fast bowlers Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins have become the most expensive players ever sold at the Indian Premier League auction, breaking the record held by England all-rounder Sam Curran.

Starc has not played in the IPL since 2015 and the left-armer’s return to contention sparked a bidding war that ended in an unprecedented bid of $4.42 million (24.75 crore rupees) from Kolkata Knight Riders.

Cummins had earlier been picked up by Sunrisers Hyderabad for just under $3.36 million (20.5 crore), with both fees higher than the fee paid by Punjab Kings for Curran last year. Starc and Cummins both signed up with a base price of less than $377,000.

Cummins is making his return to the tournament after a year-long absence to focus on his international commitments, during which he captained Australia to glory in the World Test Championship and the 50-over World Cup on Indian soil.

While those successes placed a premium on the available Australian talent, England’s dire World Cup campaign saw their shares fall on the trading floor in Dubai.

Veteran Chris Woakes was given a deal worth a fraction of $755,000 when he joined teammates Curran and Liam Livingstone at Punjab Kings, while Harry Brook was snapped up by Delhi Capitals for around $718,000.

Brook had been released after one season of a £1.3million deal with Sunrisers and the Yorkshireman settled for a healthy but much lower payday.

He hit a superb century in his maiden IPL campaign but otherwise fell seriously short on runs with just 190 in 11 matches.

Sunrisers also bought another Australian, Travis Head, who capped an excellent year with a match-winning 137 in the World Cup final in Ahmedabad. He cost around $1.2 million (6.8 crore) when he returned to the tournament for the first time since 2017.

Cummins’ Australian teammate Travis Head has also been sold to the Sunrisers

West Indies T20 captain Rovman Powell was the first player to go under the hammer at the Dubai event, receiving a surprisingly rich offer of $1.3 million from Rajasthan Royals, while New Zealand all-rounder Daryl Mitchell received the biggest check career took off when he went to Chennai Super Kings for $2.45 million.

CSK also signed Mitchell’s fellow Kiwi Rachin Ravindra, the World Cup breakout star, for a modest $321,000.

Star player Steve Smith went unsold at the auction but has an extensive history in the IPL and is likely to eventually land somewhere as Australia prepares for next year’s T20 World Cup in the United States and the Caribbean.

Australians Mitch Marsh, David Warner, Matthew Wade, Marcus Stoinis, Tim David, Jason Behrendorff, Nathan Ellis, Adam Zampa, Green and Maxwell had already been retained by their franchises before the auction.