Pace bowlers were clearly the most sought after breed in the IPL 2024 Auction at the Coca Cola Arena in Dubai where 72 players were sold for Rs 230.45 crore to 10 teams. Mitchell Starc (Rs 24.75 crore) and Pat Cummins (Rs 20.45 crore) headlined a frenetic day but there were several reasons to cheer for their pace bowling colleagues from across the world.
While all the IPL franchises went out all guns blazing in their pursuit of pace bowling assets, it’s worth noting that only 3 out of the top-10 all-time leading wicket-takers are fast bowlers. The rest of the list is dominated by spinners.
However, the focus is changing because of the way seamers have performed in India. Take two recent examples. In the 2023 IPL, Mohammed Shami and Mohit Sharma (Gujarat Titans pacers) topped the wicket-takers charts. Overall, there were 5 pacers in the top-10 wicket-takers list in the last edition of the IPL.
In the 2023 Cricket World Cup, Mohammed Shami was once again the leading wicket-taker and the toppers were once again heavily occupied by as many as 7 pacers. It is also important to understand that while the IPL was played in peak summer, the World Cup was hosted just before the onset of the Indian winter. That tells you pacers these days have mastered the art of working in different and varied conditions.
Those were not the only factors which prompted the teams to spend Rs 147.80 crore out of the total of Rs 230.45 spent on December 19 on 32 fast bowlers or seam-bowling all-rounders. From the next IPL, pacers will have the luxury of bowling two bouncers per over.
It was an interesting auction. While Mitchell Starc was pitted to break Sam Curran’s record for the highest bid in IPL history, few would have imagined the intense bidding war for Pat Cummins. But when you take a step back to think about what went down at the auction, you would realise that Sunrisers Hyderabad rewarded Cummins for his outstanding leadership qualities. He led Australia to victories in the finals of the World Test Championship and ODI World Cup against top-quality India sides. Ordinary throughout the World Cup, Cummins delivered at crunch moments in the semifinal and the final. Australian cricketers have that kind of reputation. Even though Cummins does not have a great IPL record and his last stint with Kolkata Knight Riders was immensely forgettable, you begin to understand the rationale behind the SRH bid.
And Mitchell Starc, is well, Mitchell Starc. Few bowlers in world cricket can do what he can. He is left-armed, he is quick and he can generate swing at pace. Starc can strike with old ball and new. So when, he is up for grabs, teams would be desperate to bid for him. The KKR CEO, Venky Mysore said he did not care about the money because the team was so sure about its needs. It was really a no-brainer in that sense. All teams have the same purse and they are free to spend all of it.
Another Australian pacer, not as famed as Stac and Cummins, also fetched mega bucks. Spencer Johnson, a left-arm pacer, bagged a Rs 10 crore deal with the Gujarat Titans in the accelerated round. Mustafizur Rahman was sold to Chennai Super Kings for his base price of Rs 2 crore – an absolute steal. Gerald Coetzee, Umesh Yadav, Jhye Richardson, Shivam Mavi.. and so many other pacers had a day to remember.
The 2024 Indian Premier League will be that kind of a tournament. Pacers are here to dominate in T20 cricket, no matter what the conditions are.
