Christmas came early for England's premier all-rounder Sam Curran as he became the highest-paid player of all time in the IPL history. The mini-auction for the IPL 2023 kicked off on Friday with all the 10 franchises going into the bidding war against each other to buy their preferred players. However, it was a 24-year-old English allrounder Sam Curran who shattered all records at the IPL 2023 Mini Auction. Sam Curran was sold to Punjab Kings at a whopping price of INR 18.50 Crore.
To buy Sam Curran, Punjab Kings and Mumbai Indians locked horns in an intense bidding war. However, it was Punjab Kings who stayed till the end and successfully bought Sam Curran. On INR 18.50 crore, Sam Curran became the most expensive player to be bought in IPL. Before PBKS, Curran was playing for MS Dhoni-led CSK. However, he was not retained by the Yellow Army and therefore his name was sent to the auction. Before, Curran, former South Africa all-rounder Chris Morris was the most expensive player in the IPL when Rajasthan Royals acquired him at the IPL 2021 mini-auction. However, Morris was released by the Royal Challengers Bangalore ahead of the auction, having bought him for INR 10 crore the previous year. Morris was engaged in a fierce bidding war which saw his value soar more than 21 times his base price of INR 75 lakh to a staggering INR 16.25 crore.
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Sam Curran 𝙗𝙚𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙢𝙤𝙨𝙩 𝙚𝙭𝙥𝙚𝙣𝙨𝙞𝙫𝙚 𝙥𝙡𝙖𝙮𝙚𝙧 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝙩𝙤 𝙗𝙚 𝙗𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙞𝙣 𝙄𝙋𝙇!
He goes BIG 🤯- INR 18.50 Crore & will now play for Punjab Kings 👏 👏#TATAIPLAuction | @TataCompanies pic.twitter.com/VlKRCcwv05