IPL 2024 auction stats: Pace bowlers take higher share, first-timers earn big

"Overseas Domination: Starc And Cummins Shine"

On Tuesday, there was a groundbreaking moment in the history of the IPL auction. The highest bid ever was made when Sunrisers Hyderabad invested INR 20.5 crore (approximately USD 2.47 million) in purchasing Pat Cummins. This amount exceeded the record set by Punjab Kings in the previous year when they spent INR 18.5 crore (approximately USD 2.2 million) on Sam Curran. Therefore, Pat Cummins now holds the title of being the most expensive IPL player to date.

Nevertheless, the cost of Cummins' sale became less important when Mitchell Starc outdid his fellow countryman. Kolkata Knight Riders spent INR 24.75 crores (around USD 2.98 million) on the left-handed bowler, surpassing the price tag of his national team captain. With this high price tag for both players, they are now earning more than the INR 20 crore won by Chennai Super Kings in the previous season.

The Australian pair managed to cost a whopping INR 45.25 crore (equivalent to around USD 5.4 million), which makes up more than 19% of the total expenses of the ten franchises on that particular day. Out of all the bidders, Harshal Patel was the most expensive Indian purchase, bought by the Kings for INR 11.75 crore (approximately USD 1.41 million). He stood out as the only Indian among the six players who were bid on for INR 10 crore or more during the auction on Tuesday.

CSK purchased Daryl Mitchell for a whopping INR 14 crores (around USD 1.68 million) making him the third priciest player of the auction. With this huge price tag, he is now the second most expensive New Zealand player in any IPL auction. Only Kyle Jamieson's INR 15 crore contract with the Royal Challengers Bangalore in 2021 beats Daryl's record.

KKR: Risking It All

KKR entered the IPL auction with a budget of INR 32.7 crore (equivalent to about USD 3.9 million). Surprisingly, they went on to spend 75.69% of this budget solely to acquire the services of Starc. This bold decision allowed KKR to sign more players at their base price compared to other teams. In fact, all the other nine players that KKR bought were signed at their base price. However, despite their strong pursuit, KKR wasn't able to secure the signings of Rovman Powell and Chris Woakes.

KKR was the only team to acquire more than five players at their starting price. On the other hand, Gujarat Titans made only two out of their eight purchases at the base price. However, they did splurge on four players, Spencer Johnson, Shahrukh Khan, Robin Minz, and Sushant Mishra, paying at least ten times their base price. No other team made more than two similar purchases.

Of Wickets In Cricket Matches

Out of the 72 players sold in Dubai, about half were designated either as bowlers or allrounders who specialize in bowling fast. Interestingly, 36 of these players who belonged to this category collectively cost INR 154.5 crore (USD 18.5 million approx.). This translates to about two-thirds of the entire amount spent in the auction. What's more, among these 36 players, 20 were solely listed as pace bowlers who were sold for a combined amount of INR 88.85 crore (USD 10.6 million approx.).

Foreign fast bowlers were the big winners at the auction, with half of the specialist pace bowlers being from overseas. The teams splurged a total of INR 66.15 crore (approximately USD 7.9 million) to secure the services of these bowlers. Of the six fast bowlers who earned bids of over INR 4 crore (USD 481,015 approx.), all were foreign players, while only three Indian fast bowlers achieved the same. Meanwhile, the 10 Indian pace bowlers sold collectively received INR 22.70 crore (USD 2.7 million approx.). Interestingly, all six players who were bought for more than INR 10 crore were either pace bowlers or all-rounders with a focus on pace bowling.

The franchises didn't seem to be very interested in spin bowlers during the auction. Out of the 16 players who were listed as allrounders and spin bowlers, only 10 were picked at their minimum price of INR 20 lakh. Shahrukh Khan was the only one who sold for more than INR 3 crore, and his price of INR 7.4 crore was almost 40% of the total spent on those 16 players. Even though he listed himself as an allrounder who can bowl offspin, he hasn't actually bowled in the IPL yet.

The franchises used a total of INR 31.05 crore (USD 3.7 approx.) to purchase eight Indian capped players on Tuesday. Harshal received the majority of the funds with a bid of 11.75 crore (USD 1.4 million approx.). Only two other capped Indians were purchased for INR 5 crore (USD 6 million approx.) or more, while five uncapped players earned the same amount. However, the auction saw a higher expenditure of INR 48.4 crore (USD 5.8 million approx.) on the 34 sold uncapped Indian players. Sameer Rizvi was the most expensive among the uncapped players, being purchased by CSK for INR 8.4 crore (USD 1 million approx.).

Rizvi was bought for a very high price, which is matched only by Varun Chakravarthy, who was also purchased for the same amount by Kings XI Punjab in 2019. Kumar Kushagra was sold for the joint-fourth highest amount of money, which was also paid for Jofra Archer by Rajasthan Royals in 2018. Coming in at third place is Riley Meredith, who was bought for INR 8 crore (USD 962,031 approx.) for the 2021 season by Kings. This price is quite impressive!

Cummins Sells 50 At Auction; Unadkat Up Next

Although Cummins' record for the highest bid in an IPL auction didn't last long, he did make history by being the first player to accumulate bids worth more than INR 50 crore across all IPL auctions. This happened on Tuesday, which marked the sixth time that Cummins was sold at the IPL auction. In total, he has been sold for INR 54.15 crore across these six auctions, which is a greater amount than Yuvraj Singh's approximate INR 48.1 crore across the same number of auctions.

Starc set a new record with a whopping amount of INR 24.75 crore during the IPL auctions. This added to his past earnings, making his total auction bids a whopping INR 39.15 crores. This puts him as the sixth-highest earning player in IPL history. In fact, until the 2023 auction, only 11 players had received more in total auction bids than Starc did just on Tuesday.

In the meantime, Jaydev Unadkat, a well-known name in the IPL auctions, was bought for the twelfth time this Tuesday. From the 2021 tournament onward, Unadkat has only missed out on two auctions: one in 2012 and another in 2021, since his previous franchise chose to keep him.

Sunrisers Hyderabad has acquired the services of Unadkat for INR 1.6 crore (USD 192,406 approximately) making them the eighth team to have him on board. If Unadkat gets to play for Sunrisers next season, he will become only the second player to have represented eight different franchises at the IPL. Aaron Finch holds the record of playing for nine teams in the tournament.