Sam Curran became the most expensive signing in Indian Premier League history on Friday (December 23) with Punjab Kings forking out INR 18.50 crores for the England all-rounder at the IPL 2023 auction. The signing amount surpassed the INR 16.25 crores that Rajasthan Royals paid for Chris Morris at the 2021 auction - the previous record for a player signed at the auction - as well as the retention values of Virat Kohli and KL Rahul, both of who, at different points, earned INR 17 crores.
The 24-year-old Curran, who made his IPL debut with the Punjab franchise in IPL 2019, has had a superb comeback from a back injury and starred as a death bowler for England in their victorious campaign, finishing the tournament with 13 wickets at an economy of 6.52 from six games.
Punjab entered the bidding battle for Curran only at the INR 13.50 crore mark after the Mumbai Indians, Rajasthan Royals and the Chennai Super Kings had taken stabs at signing the recently crowned Player of the Tournament at the T20 World Cup in Australia. The Kings then staved off competition from CSK, Lucknow Super Giants and another late attempt from Mumbai Indians to land the player at a record price.
The five-time champions, however, had their marquee signing when they dished out the second-highest signing amount - INR 17.50 crores - for young Australian all-rounder Cameron Green. Mumbai Indians began the bidding battle with Royal Challengers Bangalore and stayed the course to sign the 23-year-old, who gave a glimpse of his abilities opening the batting for Australia in a short T20I series just before the T20 World Cup when he scored 118 runs in three games at a strike-rate of 214.54.
Along expected lines, all-rounders and England players remained the flavour of the auction with Ben Stokes' signing for INR 16.25 crores by Chennai Super Kings rounding off a frenetic first-two rounds of bidding. CSK, who lost out on bring Curran back to Chennai, entered late for the England Test captain and outlasted Lucknow Super Giants' attempts to sign him. Stokes will be reunited with MS Dhoni in Chennai, having teamed up with the former India captain at the now-defunct Rising Pune Supergiant in the 2016-17 seasons.
In a mini-auction with a demand and supply problem, Nicholas Pooran was another big earner. The Trinidadian, who was signed for INR 10.75 crore in the mega auction last year, earned himself another big pay day with Lucknow Super Giants shelling out a whopping INR 16 crores. The 27-year-old has only sporadically sparkled in his four seasons in the league and has aggregated 912 runs at a strike-rate of 151.24.
Meanwhile, Sunrisers Hyderabad, who entered the auction with the largest purse (INR 42.25 crore) were the early risers of the auction, shelling out a combined sum of INR 21.5 crores for the services of Harry Brook (INR 13.25 Cr) and Mayank Agarwal (INR 8.25 cr). The Englishman, who recently won the Player of the Series award in the Test series sweep of Pakistan and has displayed his wares playing spin in the PSL and in the recent seven-match series in Pakistan, sparked a furious bidding battle between SRH and the Rajasthan Royals.
The latter were happy to bid INR 13 crore for the in-form Englishman even if it would have left them with just 20 lakhs in the purse but were ultimately prized out by Sunrisers, who then doubled down to wrest away Mayank Agarwal - a potential candidate for captain - from an eager CSK. The Royals eventually did get themselves an all-rounder of their own, signing Jason Holder for INR 5.75 crores.
With 30 available slots in the entire action, overseas players remained in high demand. Ireland's left-arm quick Josh Little earned himself an INR 4.40 crores gig with the defending champions Gujarat Titans while explosive South African batter Rilee Rossouw sparked a late bidding battle in the accelerated round and was snapped up the Delhi Capitals for INR 4.60 crores. Kane Williamson found a new home in Gujarat at his base price of INR 2 crores while contemporary Joe Root earned his maiden IPL gig with Rajasthan Royals after being recalled at the fag end of the auctions.
Mavi leads best of the rest list among Indian picks
While Agarwal was an expected high-value buy, Shivam Mavi sparked an interesting four-way battle that involved his former employers Kolkata Knight Riders as well as the Royals, CSK and Gujarat Titans before the defending champions earned his all-round services with a winning bid of INR 6 crores.
Mukesh Kumar, the 29-year-old Bengal medium pacer, also earned himself a substantial payday after Delhi forked out INR 5.5 crores for his services. Kumar has been a regular in the India A setup in recent times and was also called up to the India squad for the recent ODI series against South Africa.
Other notable buys
Heinrich Klaasen - Sunrisers Hyderabad - INR 5.25 crores
Will Jacks - Royal Challengers Bangalore - INR 3.2 crores
Vivrant Sharma - Sunrisers Hyderabad - INR 2.6 crores
Phil Salt - Delhi Capitals - INR 2 crores
Reece Topley - Royal Challengers Bangalore - INR 1.9 crores
Shakib Al Hasan - Kolkata Knight Riders - INR 1.5 crores
Jhye Richardson - Mumbai Indians - INR 1.5 crores
KS Bharat - Gujarat Titans - INR 1.2 crores
Kyle Jamieson - Chennai Super Kings - INR 1 crores
Daniel Sams - Lucknow Super Giants - INR 75 lakhs
Sikandar Raza - Punjab Kings - INR 50 lakhs
Odean Smith - Gujarat Titans - INR 50 lakhs
Ajinkya Rahane - Chennai Super Kings - INR 50 lakhs