₹24.75 Cr vs ₹12 Cr: The best player gets paid the best, right? Wrong. Even though Jasprit Bumrah has established himself as the best bowler of Indian Premier League, it was Mitchell Starc who broke records at IPL 2024 Auction on Tuesday. Former India opener Aakash Chopra has questioned Kolkata Knight Riders’ monster bid for Starc.
In fact, the highest paid Indian in IPL 2024 would be KL Rahul at ₹17 Crore. The likes of Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Hardik Pandya, MS Dhoni and Jasprit Bumrah earn significantly less than what some of the overseas players earn.
“Rs 24.75 Crore? Honestly it hurts. If Mitchell Starc plays all 14 games and bowls his full quota of four overs, each ball will cost Rs 7.3 L. Astonishing! But here’s a question. Who is the world’s best bowler? Who is the IPL’s best bowler? His name is Jasprit Bumrah. He gets Rs 12 crore and Starc almost 25. That’s wrong. I wish everyone gets paid a lot but how is this fair?” Aakash Chopra questioned on his YouTube channel.
In fact, Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins went for Rs 45.25 Crore combined. To compare, three stalwarts of India and IPL — Rohit Sharma (16 Cr), Virat Kohli (15 Cr) and KL Rahul (17 Cr) together earn Rs 48 Cr.
Aakash Chopra questioned that if it’s Indian Premier League, how is an overseas player earning more than the Indians.
“It’s the Indian Premier League. How is one getting paid so less and the other so much? Loyalty is royalty. If tomorrow, Bumrah tells MI ‘Please release me and I’ll put my name in the auction’. Or if Kohli says the same to RCB, their prices will rise, right? And that’s how it should be? If this auction market decides that Starc’s price is ₹25 crore, then it will also decide that Kohli should be worth 42 crore, or Bumrah 35 crore. If that isn’t happening, there is a fault,” Aakash Chopra said.
While as a former Indian cricketer, Aakash Chopra is right to be influenced by emotions, Mitchell Starc has an illustrious trophy cabinet that none of the top Indian players have. He has won every available ICC trophy there is barring the ICC Champions Trophy.
Mitchell Starc’s trophy cabinet
1: T20 World Cup (2021)
1. World Test Championship (2023)
2: ODI World Cup trophies (2015, 2023)
Virat Kohli has only won World Cup and Champions Trophy while Rohit Sharma has won T20 World Cup and ICC Champions Trophy. KL Rahul and Jasprit Bumrah have no ICC trophy yet.
Should there be salary cap in IPL?
However, the pay disaprity is such that even former India captain and coach Anil Kumble has questioned the monster amount overseas players have been earning.
“This is where I feel in a squad of 25 players, where you have eight overseas players, the purse also needs to be one third for the overseas players. I think that’s something that should happen eventually. Otherwise, you will see a lot of disparity at the auction,” Anil Kumble said on JioCinema.
