South Africa all-rounder Chris Morris on Thursday became the highest ever paid player in the history of Indian Premier League (IPL) after Rajasthan Royals (RR) bought him at the whopping price of Rs16.25 crore during the player auction for the 2021 edition.
Morris’ name saw an intense bidding war as Punjab Kings (name changed from Kings XI Punjab) also expressed keen interest to acquire his service. The bowling all-rounder’s base price was Rs.75 lakh.
The previous all-time record was held by Yuvraj Singh who was picked up by the now-defunct Delhi Daredevils franchise in 2015.
And the highest ever bid for a foreign player was done by the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) when they had bought Australian fast bowler Pat Cummins foe Rs.15.5 crore last year.
On Thursday, Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) bought Australia all-rounder Glenn Maxwell for Rs 14.25 crore after intense bidding with Chennai Super Kings. Maxwell’s base price was Rs 2 crore.
Maxwell was earlier released by Punjab Kings (earlier Kings XI Punjab), who had bought him for Rs 10.75 crore for the 2020 edition.
Australian batsman Steve Smith (base price: Rs 2 crore) was picked for Rs 2.2 crore by Delhi Capitals.
Bangladesh all-rounder Shakib al Hassan went for Rs 3.2 crore to Kolkata Knight Riders.
Moeen Ali went to CSK for Rs 7 crore.
India all-rounder Shivam Dube went to RR for 4.4 crore.