Starc became the most expensive player in IPL history with a bid of Rs 24.75 crore, minutes after his captain Pat Cummins received a pay cheque worth Rs 20.50 crore. And soon after Cummins bagged a stunning offer from Sunrisers Hyderabad, Kolkata Knight Riders upped the ante by offering a bigger salary package to the left-arm pacer, who last featured in the IPL in 2015.
India’s former opener Akash Chopra He expressed his dissatisfaction with the exorbitant prices received by Australian players. He expressed the opinion that this is unfair to players of his caliber Virat Kohli And Jasprit Bumrahwho have the potential to break all records if they want to enter the auction pool.
“If Mitchell Starc played all 14 matches and bowled his full quota of four overs, each ball would cost Rs 7,60,000. It is amazing. But here is a question. Who is the best bowler in the world? Who is the best bowler in the world? IPL? His name is Jasprit Bumrah. He gets Rs 12 crore and Stark gets around 25. This is a mistake. I don’t begrudge anyone’s money. I hope everyone gets paid big but how is that fair?” Chopra said in a video on his YouTube channel:
Chopra also added that if Kohli and Bumrah ask to launch their own franchises, they will end up getting an offer of Rs 42 crore and Rs 35 crore respectively.
“It’s the Indian Premier League. How can one get underpaid and the other get paid so much? Loyalty is property. If tomorrow, Bumrah says to MI ‘Please release me and I will put my name in the auction’. Or if Kohli says the same to… RCB, their prices will go up, right? And that’s the way it should be? If this auction market decides that Starc is worth Rs 25 crore, it will also decide that Kohli is worth Rs 42 crore, or Bumrah is worth Rs 35 crore.” “If it doesn’t, there’s something wrong.”
IPL Auction: Mitchell Starc breaks records with Rs. Rs 24.75 crore deal to join Kolkata Knight Riders
Chopra also proposed a solution to address the discrepancy, suggesting a cap on the spending power of foreign players.
“One solution to this is to put a cap on the money held for foreign players. For example – if you have a portfolio of Rs 200 crore to put together a team, of which 1.5 or 1.75 is for Indian players, and the rest is for foreign players. When this happens, it will give you parity, Which is not there at the moment. You can feel the disparity at the moment, which is not a good thing. SRH certainly looked at Cummins as an option to lead the team. If not, Rs 20.50 crore is meaningless,” he added. Not for someone who doesn’t have the greatest record in the IPL. A top-class player but his T20 numbers are 50-50.”