South African cricket legend AB de Villiers justified the demand for pacers in the IPL 2024 Auction at the Coca Cola Arena in Dubai on Tuesday. However, de Villiers conceded the figures for Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins were “absolutely unbelievable” but he added he realised why the teams wanted them so badly.
Pat Cummins, the Australia captain, won a bid of Rs 20.50 crore from Surisers Hyderabad before his new-ball partner Mithell Starc secured a staggering Rs 24.75 crore from Kolkata Knight Riderss. While the two Australia greats laughed their way to the bank, a few other pacers also had a good day at the IPL 2024 Auction.
Alzarri Joseph (Rs 11.5 crore) and Harshal Patel (Rs 11.75 crore) fetched big bids while Umesh Yadav and Shivam Mavi also pocketed impressive contracts.
The mini-auction had promised to be a dream for pacers and that is exactly how the day panned out for most of them.
AB de Villiers, one of the greatest players to have donned RCB colours in the Indian Premier League, said the sky-high bids for Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins also reflected where the tournament was going.
“Absolutely unbelievable. Trick lies in winning the World Cup. It’s incredible and just shows you where the IPL is going. The two stalwarts know what they do with the ball and we knew the bowlers would be in demand,” de Villiers told Jio Cinema.
Mitchell Starc has 647 international wickets and is considered to be a potent weapon in the shorter formats while Pat Cummins has 438 wickets across international formats. Starc will play the IPL after 9 years; Cummins last played in 2022 and did not enjoy a great campaign.
Pat Cummins, however, has had a great year as captain. He led Australia to victories in the World Test Championship and the ODI World Cup, defeating India in both the finals. Besides, Cummins also helped Australia successfully defend the Ashes in England.
