London: England’s Sam Curran, who has now become the most expensive player ever in the IPL after he was sold to Punjab Kings for a whopping Rs 18.5 crore in the second round of IPL 2023 auction, said he is looking forward to playing the next season of the cash-rich tournament.
“Back to where it all started! Looking forward to it,” he tweeted.
Previously, Chris Morris was the most expensive player after Rajasthan Royals had bought him in 2021. Yuvaraj Singh was the first ever player to register as the costliest player when he was purchased for Rs 16 crore in the 2015 auction.
Pat Cummins (15.5 in 2020) and Kyle Jamieson (15 in 2021) are the other players to be signed for Rs 15 crore or more at an IPL mini auction.
There was an intense bidding for Curran as Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) pushed the bid up to Rs 7 crore, and that’s when Rajasthan Royals (RR) chipped in.
RCB exited shortly thereafter as RR and MI continued to engage in a fierce bidding war. Chennai Super Kings (CSK), Punjab Kings (PK) and Lucknow SuperGiants (LSG) entered the fray shortly before Punjab won the war.
Curran, who was the Player of the T20 World Cup in Australia earlier this year, bagged 13 wickets, including a 3/12 in the final against Pakistan, which won him the Player of the Match award.
The left-arm pacer played for Chennai Super Kings in the 2020 and 2021 seasons, but was not available for IPL mega auction in February 2022, citing rehabilitation from a back injury as the reason for opting out.
Curran made his IPL debut for Punjab Kings, who had bought him for Rs. 7.2 crore in 2019. He has scored 337 runs at a strike rate of 149.78 and also yaken 32 wickets at an economy of 9.21, in 32 plus games in three seasons.
