Gujarat Titans head coach Ashish Nehra believes the massive price that Kolkata Knight Riders paid to bag the services of Mitchell Starc in the IPL 2024 auction is completely justified for a player like him.
KKR break the bank for Starc
The Knight Riders and Titans were locked in a two-way bidding war for the Australia pacer, who finally went for ₹24.75 crore to the two-time champions co-owned by Shah Rukh Khan.
GT backed out at the last moment with ₹24.25 crore being their final bid which the Knight Riders bettered by adding another ₹25 lakh to Starc's price.
Starc becomes highest paid IPL cricketer
The 33-year-old, who has only played two seasons in the IPL and last featured in the league in 2015 for the Royal Challengers Bangalore, returned with a bang and became the most expensive player in the history of the auction.
Starc & Cummins to get more than Dhoni, Kohli
Starc will be paid more than even the likes of MS Dhoni, Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma who have become legends of the IPL and have featured in the league since its inception in 2008.
His Australia captain and teammate Pat Cummins had earlier set the record in the same auction an hour before Starc after Sunrisers Hyderabad bagged the 2023 World Cup-winning skipper for a whopping ₹20.50 crore.
"There is nothing like being over priced in the IPL. Everybody knows what Starc can do. He is a proven player.
"We needed a fast bowler and every team had different strategies. We have to be satisfied with what we have. For a bowler like Starc, I don't think that is a surprise," he said.
Ex-India cricketers not happy
Nehra's statement comes after several cricket pundits and fans expressed their displeasure at Starc's and Pat Cummins's price, saying that Indian bowlers like Jasprit Bumrah deserve to be paid more than the overseas players.
The likes of Aakash Chopra and Suresh Raina even called for a cap on the salaries of foreign players so that they do not get more than Indian cricketers in the IPL.
“Jasprit Bumrah for INR 12 crore, MS Dhoni for INR 12 crore, Mohammed Shami for INR 5 crore. And the player who was not a part of the league for 8 years and has played just 26 matches was given almost 25 crore. This is not done,” Suresh Raina said.
Chopra meanwhile, suggested that IPL should increase the purse for franchises to ₹200 crore out of which ₹150 crore should be reserved for Indian players.
“The purse should be of INR 200 crore with 150 for the Indian players. The remaining INR 50 crore should be kept for the overseas cricketers. Virat Kohli would go for INR 42 crore if he comes to the auction table,” Aakasha Chopra said.
