The teams filled their gaps and the cash flowed by during the recently concluded IPL 2020 auction. Australian quick Pat Cummins topped the chart after going to the Kolkata Knight Riders for a whopping sum of Rs 15.5 Cr making him the most expensive foreign player to play in the IPL after surpassing Ben Stokes.
Cummins broke the sum for an overseas player, a record which was previously held by England’s Ben Stokes who had acquired a sum of Rs 14.5 Cr from the Rising Pune Supergiant, a few years back.
The 26-year-old was predicted to trigger a bigging war to obtain his services after his exponential rise as of late. The bidding battle commenced between Royal Challengers Bangalore and Delhi Capitals well into the Rs 10 Cr mark. The four-time IPL finalists needed a bowler to spearhead their attack while Cummins’ ex-franchise tried to rope him back into the capital.
The bidding calls expectedly slowed down once the figure hit the 14 Cr mark. While Delhi Capitals were contemplating about making the Rs 15.5 Cr bid, the Knight Riders swooped in and acquired the pacer in a blink of an eye.
This will mark Pat Cummins’ return back to the Knight Riders after already playing for the franchise during the 7th edition of the tournament.
KKR’s head coach Brendon McCullum and the CEO Venky Mysore showered praise on the Australian vice-captain and expressed their delight over the unconventional acquisition.
“He was the best player in the auction.We are delighted to have him. He has become very robust. He is the vice-captain of the Australian team and that shows he’s coming along well. We have spoken to him. When you go into the auction and bag the best player in the auction, it’s great,” KKR’s head coach McCullum said.
“We would have come in earlier but the paddles kept going up. We were certainly interested in him. We were determined to get him,” KKR CEO, Venky Mysore, said.
The player himself revealed after the auction that he is “pumped” to play for the franchise once again. Cummins said:
“Absolutely pumped to be back on with KKR. It’s where I was for the first couple of years. Can’t wait to work with Baz (Brendon) McCullum, Eoin Morgan; back with Andre Russell, Sunil Narine. Can’t wait to get over there,”
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