Chris Morris becomes the most expensive player in IPL history

The record for the most expensive player in the history of IPL is held by South African all-rounder, Chris Morris who was bought by the Rajasthan Royals for a whopping 16.25 crores. The auction for the 14th edition of the Indian Premier League was organised on 18th February 2021, in Chennai.

The 33-year-old all-rounder from South Africa has been part of four tests, 42 ODIs and 23 T20s, is certainly not the stuff of legends for this price tag.

Several teams such as Mumbai Indians, Punjab Kings and Royal Challengers Bangalore (the team who released him for the auction) bid for the 6ft 4in South African.

There have been other expensive buys over the years in IPL, Yuvraj Singh of 2015, Ben Stokes of 2017, or Pat Cummins of 2020, but with an IPL strike rate of 157 and 80 wickets, Morris still has a point to prove for his price tag.

Apart from Morris, Glenn Maxwell also bagged big bucks. He was bought by RCB for a price tag of 14.25 crores. This was not the first time he went such big but this was certainly his highest tag. Other expensive buys were Kyle Jamieson, who was also bagged by RCB, purely because of their bigger purse value. Jhye Richardson was another big buy at 15 crores for Punjab Kings. He was supposed to be on the charts of many teams as he was the highest wicket-taker in the recently concluded Big Bash League.

KKR, on the other hand, had a steal deal with Shakib Al Hasan at 3.2 crores and Harbhajan Singh as well. MI played the smart card by bringing back Coulter Nile for 5 crores and Adam Milne for 3.2 crores, the duo effectively in Coulter Nile’s 2020 paycheck.

All the players would be keen on supporting their price tags and make a big name in the IPL, beginning in April.