Srinagar: Former India cricketers like Anil Kumble, Zaheer Khan and RP Singh have questioned the logic behind Australian duo of Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins getting big money in IPL 2024 Auctions.
On Tuesday in IPL 2024 Auctions in Dubai, Pat Cummins broke Sam Curran’s record of ₹18.5 crore from last year to become the first man to breach the ₹20 crore mark before Mitchell Starc beat him as the most expensive buy in IPL history by getting 24.5 crores.
Anil Kumble questioned whether franchises should be allowed to spend a fortune on overseas players.
“That’s where I think you seriously need to look at a seperate purse for the overseas because otherwise, you will have players not coming into the big auction, especially the foreign players who are in demand. They will choose the smaller auction where you know that you’re going to go for a double-digit or even more and today was a classic example. Yes, those two are exceptional players but Starc hasn’t played in the IPL since 2015. He isn’t the youngest of the lot, and Pat Cummins doesn’t have a great T20 record as a bowler. He is the captain of Australia, he’s done exceptionally for them,” Kumble said while speaking on Jio Cinema.
“To go for ₹45 crore on Starc and Cummins at an auction like this – yes this was unprecedented and we never thought that the 20 crore barrier will be broken – but I certainly believe that since only four players can play in the Playing XI and you have 8 out of the 25, I think it’s only fair that you have a 40 or 45 percent salary of the overall cap for overseas guys. You have really high-quality Indian players. Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah, who will be looking at this and thinking what’s going on.”
Zaheer Khan also weighed on Cummins and Starc’s record-breaking day.
“This is a great point by Anil because look at how IPL started. It began with icon players having 10-15 percent of the top players which you will have in the franchise. It meant that value and weightage was being given to Indian players. We don’t know how the dynamics is going to pan out if all the Indian players are put into the auction and their quality. At some stage, I think the franchises will look at it. You don’t want players thinking that ‘It’s the Indian Premier League. I am the most premier player – doing well for the country and my IPL team – and not getting the value which the market is deciding. It will be interesting to see how much Bumrah will command in this type of a scenario, who has been a consistent performer over the years and a premier fast bowler,” the ex-India quick pointed out.
“I am a little surprised with the money KKR spent on Starc. I didn’t feel that anyone would cross the ₹20 crore mark. The second thing is Mitchell Starc will be playing the IPL after a long time. It’s not that he has put up outstanding performances consistently. He has not played the IPL for eight years,” the 2007 T20 World Cup-winning pacer highlighted.