England all-rounder Sam Curran on Friday became the most expensive Indian Premier League (IPL) player ever at the players auction as the world’s richest cricket league went big ahead of the 2023 season.
Curran returned to the Punjab Kings for a staggering sum of 185 million Indian rupees ($2.23 million) after a fierce bidding war involving the Chennai Super Kings.
Curran had earlier played for Punjab Kings in 2019.
The fee paid by Rajasthan Royals for South African all-rounder Chris Morris last year surpassed the previous highest bid of Rs 162.5 million.
The previous record for paying Morris was broken once again on Friday, with Mumbai Indians paying Rs 17.5 crore for Australian all-rounder Cameron Green.
Chennai Super Kings compensated for missing out on Curran by signing England red-ball captain Ben Stokes for Rs 162.5 million.
Batsman Harry Brook, who made waves since his England Twenty20 international and Test debut this year, became the first millionaire of the day after being signed by Sunrisers Hyderabad.
Bangladesh all-rounder Shakib Al-Hasan and England batsman Joe Root went unsold.