England’s star all-rounder Sam Curran was picked for a record Rs 18.50 crore at the IPL Mini auction 2023 on Friday (December 23). Curran was the Player of the Match at ICC Men’s T2 World Cup 2022. Curran was expected to go for millions but nobody knew that he would set a new record in IPL auction history. Curran has been picked by Punjab Kings for whom he has played earlier and has also picked up a hattrick. PBKS co-owner Preity Zinta welcomed little Sam Curran to the side with a special message on Twitter. She wrote: “Welcome back to PBKS @CurranSM Looking forward to #IPL2023.”
Check out Preity Zinta’s tweet for Sam Curran below:
Welcome back to PBKS @CurranSM Looking forward to #IPL2023 ,@PunjabKingsIPL #saddapunjab #TATAIPLAuction #ting pic.twitter.com/2lIByooBJb— Preity G Zinta (@realpreityzinta) December 23, 2022
There was intense bidding between MI, CSK, RR, LSG, and PBKS for Curran, who was Player of the Tournament at the T20 World Cup in Australia. However, PBKS eventually got the England all-rounder.
After Curran, Australia all-rounder Cameron Green also attracted big bids from franchises and became the second-most expensive player in the IPL history after Mumbai Indians picked him up for a whopping Rs 17.5 crore. Before this auction, South African all-rounder Chris Morris was the most expensive buy in the IPL. He was signed by Rajasthan Royals for Rs. 16.25 crore in the 2021 auction.
Meanwhile, the England Test captain Ben Stokes was sold to Chennai Super Kings for Rs 16.25 crore after fierce bids from LSG and SRH. On the other hand, Rajasthan Royals bought Jason Holder for 5.75 crore and the likes of Odean Smith and Sikandar Raza were sold at Rs 50 lakh each to Gujarat Titans and Punjab Kings respectively. Bangladesh all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan went unsold.