Chris Morris became the most expensive buy ever in the history of the Indian Premier League with a price tag of INR 16.25 crores as Rajasthan Royals went all-out for the all-rounder at the IPL 2021 Auction in Chennai on Thursday.
With a base price of just INR 75 lakhs, Chris Morris invited a huge battle that saw Mumbai Indians, Royal Challengers Bangalore, Punjab Kings, and the Rajasthan Royals fighting for the Protea all-rounder. Rajasthan Royals eventually got the 33-year-old for the highest ever amount in the IPL auction, surpassing Yuvraj Singh’s record of INR 16 crore in 2015.
Chris Morris Entered IPL 2021 Auction With A Base Price Of INR 75 Lakhs
It indeed was a massive surprise that the Royal Challengers Bangalore had decided to release Chris Morris. South African all-rounder Chris Morris, who entered the IPL 2021 auction with a base price of INR 75 lakhs, was injured in the initial phases of the tournament held in UAE in the year 2020.
However, he became one of the vital players for the side and justified the purchase amount of INR 10 crores. Chris Morris featured in nine matches and took 11 wickets at 19.09 while maintaining an economy rate of 6.63. While the 33-year old did not get enough chances with the bat, he kept a strike rate of 161.90, delivering some lusty blows.
Chris Morris was one of the most impressive bowlers in IPL and RCB releasing him ahead of the auction came as a huge surprise. The South African all-rounder became one of the million-dollar buys yet again in the IPL 2021 auction due to his all-around abilities.
Chris Morris has impressive IPL statistics as he has 79 wickets from 70 matches at 24.29 with three four-wicket hauls alongside a decent economy rate of 7.81.
Glenn Maxwell And Jhye Richardson Attracts Bid Of INR 14 Crore And Above
Glenn Maxwell was sold to Royal Challengers Bangalore for INR 14.25 Crore but Chris Morris was sold at an even higher price to Rajasthan Royals for a steep INR 16.25 crore creating new records as the most expensive buy ever in the history of IPL since 2008. Amongst others, Steven Smith was sold to Delhi Capitals for INR 2.2 Crores while Shakib Al Hasan was sold to KKR for INR 3.2 Crore, and Moeen Ali attracted a bid of exactly INR 7 Crore and was sold to CSK.
Shivam Dube was sold at INR 4.4 Crore to Rajasthan while Punjab Kings bought Dawid Malan for a base price of INR 1.5 Crore. Adam Milne was bought by MI. The likes of Kusal Perera, Sam Billings, Kedar Jadhav, Jason Roy, and Evin Lewis went unsold. Mustafizur Rahman, Piyush Chawla, Jhye Richardson, Umesh Yadav, and Nathan Counter Nile were sold.
India all-rounder Shivam Duve was also in huge demand and went to Rajasthan Royals for Rs 4.40 crore. While there were some big signings, there were some big names that remained unsold including Jason Roy, Alex Hales, Kedar Jadhav, Aaron Finch, Evinn Lewis, among others. Punjab Kings spent big on Jhye Richardson, buying him for a whopping Rs 14 crore.
Nathan Coulter-Nile went to defending champions Mumbai Indians for Rs 5 crore, who also picked up Piyush Chawla for Rs 2.40 crore. Umesh Yadav was picked by Delhi Capitals for his base price of Rs 1 crore.