That was our last bid for Morris, thankfully Kings backed out: RR COO

Chris Morris became the most expensive buy in history of the Indian Premier League after Rajasthan Royals acquired the services of the dynamic South African all-rounder for a whopping 16.25 crore at the 2021 auction. He had attracted quite a few bidders in Mumbai Indians, Punjab Kings and Royal Challengers Bangalore even, but RR, who came quite late into the bidding, bagged him eventually for the highest price an overseas player has earned in the IPL, overtaking Pat Cummins from the previous season.

When asked about whether RR had taken into consideration Morris's injury history, Jake Lush McCrum, RR's COO, said: "We spoke to Chris before the auction and did a full medical review. He's in a bubble now in South Africa and about to play the domestic competition. Chris is an ex-Royal and is one of those players with experience who can deal with a price tag like that. We've re-balanced the side this year and he fills an important role for us in all phases of the game and also can win us the game with the bat as well as the ball. That was our last bid, we had stretched our limit. Thankfully Kings backed out and we're delighted to have him back."

Morris was not the only overseas player to have attracted a handsome price. Glenn Maxwell too sprung into the 10-plus crore club after Royal Challengers Bangalore bagged him for 14.25 crore after a bidding war with Chennai Super Kings.

"He's a multi-skilled player, he's good in the field and is able to bowl off spin, so just depends on what teams want," said RCB head coach Mike Hesson. "We all know what good touch he is in away from the IPL. Only a couple of years ago in 2017 he was used higher up the order and had his best IPL,so we'll look at how we best use him...help AB out and provide a bit of power through the middle there. We've obviously got other players to do other jobs, so we were after that X-factor player and we've found that in Glenn Maxwell, so we're delighted."

CSK, meanwhile, were content with having bought Moeen Ali for 7 crore, half the price of Maxwell. However, bowling coach Lakshmipathy Balaji said he filled in a dual role of handling the spin department and that of a power-hitter, stressing on the need to be flexible in an auction as this.

"We have to have flexibility when it comes to an auction. Most teams have their core combination covered, Some areas to focus are important and we are focusing on all-rounder and a bit of power-hitting. Moeen was a good buy in that sense as he has always contributed both with ball and bat.

"Watson was giving that flexibility in that top order but Moeen gives the depth and dual role of contributing with bat and all. Moeen will definitely fill in the role we're looking at in the top order and in the spin department."

Steve Smith was bagged by Delhi Capitals in the opening session for just a little more than his base price of 2 crore. Although RCB began the bid, they backed out as soon as DC stepped in. Hesson was clear that they would've loved Smith for his base price, but were not looking at him to fill in the opening slot.

"We felt we needed somebody in that first group to be sold and to be potentially taken a batting spot up... We would've been happy to have Smith at 2 crore. We would've been able to use him in many different roles. He's obviously a very skillfull player."