Sam Curran surpasses Chris Morris as the most expensive player in IPL history; Harry Brook bags million-pound deal in first auction; England Test captain Ben Stokes picked up for £1.6m; Joe Root to make IPL debut for Rajasthan Royals, but 18-year-old Rehan Ahmed among those unsold
Wednesday 28 December 2022 11:21, UK
England star all-rounder Sam Curran was signed for a record £1.85m in the Indian Premier League auction, while new batting sensation Harry Brook was snapped up for just over £1.3m.
Curran signed for Punjab Kings after a bidding war between six teams, including his former squad the Chennai Super Kings. His deal eclipses Chris Morris' previous record of roughly £1.6m with the Rajasthan Royals in 2021 to see him become the most expensive player in the history of the tournament.
The previous record fee was broken once more in the early part of the auction, with Mumbai Indians paying roughly 1.75m for Australian all-rounder Cameron Green.
Curran now joins fellow England internationals Jonny Bairstow and Liam Livingstone at the Kings, as well as former head coach Trevor Bayliss. He played for Punjab in the 2019 edition of the IPL, his first stint in the tournament.
Curran's stock has never been higher after he starred in England's T20 World Cup win in Australia last month, picking up the player of the tournament and player of the final double.
As for Brook, the Yorkshire and England star, who scored 468 runs at both an average and strike rate of over 93 in the recent Test series in Pakistan, was ultimately signed by Sunrisers Hyderabad, who saw off bids from both Rajasthan and Royal Challengers Bangalore.
The 23-year-old has 372 runs at a strike rate of almost 138 in 20 T20 international appearances for England and was also part of their T20 World Cup-winning side.
Brook's eventual price in rupees of 13.25 crore was almost nine times his base price of 1.5 crore, while he also became the most expensive specialist batter ever sold at a mini auction, smashing West Indies batter Shimron Hetmyer's previous record of 7.75 crore.
England Test captain Ben Stokes too fetched a hefty price at auction, being sold for just over £1.6m to the Super Kings, seeing him become the franchise's most expensive player in their history, surpassing Deepak Chahar.
Other England players sold on Friday included spinner Adil Rashid, who links up with Brook at Sunrisers, Reece Topley and Will Jacks - both snapped up by RCB - and Phil Salt, who heads to Delhi Capitals.
Joe Root went unsold in the first round at his base price of one crore, just over £100,000, but was eventually picked up in the second round by Rajasthan Royals for what will be his first appearance in the competition.
A number of England internationals were not taken including Tom Banton, Chris Jordan, Dawid Malan and Sam's brother Tom Curran.
New 18-year-old leg-spin sensation Rehan Ahmed, despite his star showing taking a seven-for on Test debut for England in Pakistan this month, also went unsold.
Promising 21-year-old top-order batting talent Will Smeed, tipped for international recognition and who opted to sign a 'white-ball only' contract with Somerset for next season, also missed out.
