Australia fast-bowler Pat Cummins was bought by Kolkata Knight Riders at the Vivo IPL Auction 2020 on Thursday, making him the most expensive foreign player ever sold at the marquee tournament. Cummins sparked an intense bidding war between Delhi Capitals and Royal Challengers Bangalore, taking his price up to 15 crore. KKR joined the bidding late but emerged victorious in the end. Cummins has taken 32 wickets in 25 IPL matches so far with an economy of just over 6.
Ranked no. 1 in the Test Rankings, Pat Cummins broke the record held by Ben Stokes. Stokes was bought by Rising Pune Supergiant for Rs 14.5 crore in the 2017 auction. Cummins is just behind Yuvraj Singh in the list of most expensive buys at the IPL Auctions. Yuvraj had been bought by Delhi Daredevils for Rs 16 crore in 2015.
Cummins’ compatriot, swashbuckling all-rounder Glenn Maxwell went to Kings XI Punjab for Rs 10.75 crore after. Another big buy was South African Chris Morris, who was sold for Rs 10 crore to Royal Challengers Bangalore.
Earlier, England’s World Cup-winning captain Eoin Morgan made big money in the early part of the auctions, going to Kolkata Knight Riders for Rs 5.25 crore.
Australia’s limited-overs captain Aaron Finch went for Rs 4.4 crore to Royal Cjallengers Bangalore.
Australia’s big-hitting all-rounder Chris Lynn was bought for his base price of Rs 2 crore by defending champions Mumbai Indians.
The seasoned Robin Uthappa was bagged by inaugural edition winners Rajasthan Royals for Rs 3 crore, but the Indian Test specialist duo of Cheteshwar Pujara and Hanuma Vihara went unsold.
