Rs 24.75 Crore and Rs 20 lakh — history-maker Mitchell Starc will team up with the likes of Angkrish Raghuvanshi and Sakib Hussain. Does anything seem odd? Well, it’s the disparity in players’ salary. While Mitchell Starc will be earning 7.3 Lakh per delivery in 14-match IPL 2024, his younger colleagues will earn significantly less. That’s the reason Anil Kumble has backed some sort of salary cap for overseas players at IPL Auction.
The former India cricket team coach believes one-third of the salary purse should be reserved for overseas players to avoid such a huge disparity.
“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.
Will there be a salary cap in IPL?
The auction is a hugely popular pre-IPL programme and at mini auctions, franchises do tend to go overboard. With a Rs 5 Cr increase every year till IPL 2025, it is unlikely that there will be a cap on spending. At the last IPL auction, Sam Curran bagged a humongous sum of Rs 18.50 Crore from Punjab Kings. But with an increase of Rs 5 Crore in auction purse, franchises have more spending power now.
Lucknow Super Giants owner Sanjeev Goenka and Kolkata Knight Riders CEO Venky Mysore agreed that even Rs 25 Crore will be breached at the next auction. And that’s where the disparity will only increase.
“Mini auctions are notorious for that. If you have a high purse and no supply and specific targets, it can happen, and it did happen today. These barriers were getting breached each season. Who knows the 25 crore barrier may get breached next time around,” Sanjeev Goenka said after Mitchell Starc was snapped for Rs 24.75 Cr by KKR.
The architect of such a heist, KKR CEO Venky Mysore offered a more easier understanding of the auction dynamics. In 2008 with a salary purse of around Rs 20 Cr ($5 million), MS Dhoni went for around 6 Crore. That was almost one third of the auction purse whereas Mitchell Starc’s price is only one-fourth of the purse.
“The salary cap has gone up significantly since the first year. Naturally, the player fee is bound to go up,” Venky Mysore explained.
Separate overseas purse at IPL auction
However, Anil Kumble has a point. A separate overseas fund could eliminate the pay disapirty within the team. For example, KKR captain Shreyas Iyer will only earn half of what Mitchell Starc will get. But even at Rs 12.25 Cr salary, he will have more responsibilities. Iyer will also have to take the blame of a poor show by Starc.
“I know the overseas fans won’t be happy with what I am saying. But I think it’s important that you look at that to be a benchmark. You have a separate overseas purse. Otherwise you will see this disparity of 50%, 60% of the squad where you have options for only four players,” Anil Kumble said.
“With eight India players now part of the playing XI, that will help them, especially in these smaller auctions. There will be the challenge of bridging this gap and you will invariably go to the overseas players.”
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