Bangladesh fast bowler Mustafizur Rahman was picked by Chennai Super Kings for Rs 2 crore in the IPL 2024 auction and it means that he will be playing under the captaincy of MS Dhoni in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024. While both cricketers boast of long international careers, they share a bit of history among themselves that involves an infamous ‘collision’. During a ODI match between India and Bangladesh in 2015, Dhoni and Mustafizur collided when the batter tried to take a run and the incident ended with both cricketers losing a percentage of their match fees. The social media handle of CSK took to social media to remind people of the incident along with the caption – “From Collision to Coalition! It’s all #Yellove!”.
Meanwhile, Mitchell Starc surpassed his Australian bowling partner Pat Cummins to become the most expensive buy in IPL history with an eye popping bid of Rs 24.75 crore.
Not long after Cummins fetched an unprecedented pay packet of Rs 20.50 crore from Sunrisers Hyderabad, Starc raised the bar when Kolkata Knight Riders made a multi million dollar bid for the left-arm pacer, who last played in the IPL in 2015.
From Collision to Coalition! It’s all #Yellove!🫂💛 pic.twitter.com/DRTfFkLcJ0
— Chennai Super Kings (@ChennaiIPL) December 19, 2023
Starc’s payout was significantly more than Sam Curran got last year when Punjab Kings paid a then record Rs 18.50 crore for the England all-rounder.
Such are the unpredictable ways of IPL that one third of the formidable Australian pace trio, Josh Hazlewood, went unsold in the first round of auction from a base price of Rs 2 crore.
Gujarat Titans and KKR were involved in a long and exhilarating bidding battle for Starc before the latter lapped him up for a record deal.
Starc, 33, has usually prioritised international duty over IPL but decided to enter the auction with one eye on the T20 World Cup that follows the IPL.
He has played only two seasons of the IPL, taking 34 wickets in 27 games at an average of 20.38.
In contrast, Cummins has been a regular at the IPL but skipped the 2023 edition to focus on the Ashes and the ODI World Cup.
An intense bidding war followed for Cummins with Mumbai Indians, Royal Challengers Bangalore, Chennai Super Kings, and Sunrisers Hyderabad raising their paddles frenetically to secure the services of the fast bowling all-rounder.
In the end, it was SRH who broke the bank for Cummins.
It was not the first time that Cummins attracted huge sums at the IPL auction. Ahead of the 2020 edition, KKR had paid Rs 15.5 crore for his services.
(With PTI inputs)
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