Pat Cummins
Aussie pacer Pat Cummins and England’s white-ball skipper Eoin Morgan are among the five buys that two-time winner Kolkata Knight Riders made on Thursday in Kolkata. While Cummins was roped in for a record-breaking INR 15.50 crores early in the first session, Morgan was brought for INR 5.25 crores. and England's teen sensation from T20 blast season, Tom Baton for a base price of INR 1 crore. And among the crucial buys from the domestic lot, Varun Chakravarthy was roped in for INR 4 crores. M Siddarth and Rahul Tripathi are two other uncapped players, while 48-year-old Pravin Tambe emerged as the oldest player to be roped in at an auction.
A total of nine players were brought by KKR who spent the most – INR 27.15 crores – at the IPL 2020 auction.
"Eoin brings leadership. Karthik is our captain and Morgan can provide a layer around him. He also brings the best form he's ever been in. It's great to be back and having spoken to him, I know he's very very excited to come back for KKR. Cummins was the standout player of this auction. He has been with us before, he has grown into one of the very best in the game. He is a wholehearted cricketer, gives everything with the bat and is also a leader,” said coach Brendon McCullum to reporters at the end of the auction.
“We were desperate for him and to know that we've got our number one target feels great. To pick up Chris Green was a bargain buy to be honest. He is a terrific replacement for Narine if something were to happen to him. He also provides a lot of leadership. Banton's also a bargain buy. We got every player we wanted in this auction. He was the icing on the cake. He is a small reminiscence of Kevin Pietersen. He's also a backup keeper. You can't replace Russell, so instead of going for a second all-rounder, we decided to go for a top-order batsman. It will also be a huge motivation for him to play along with his England captain."
13 players were retained, 10 were released and one traded in by Kolkata Knight Riders ahead of the Indian Premier League auction on Thursday in Kolkata. And at the end of the eight-hour-long bidding war, KKR have come out with a completely new side having roped in ...
As many as 10 players were released including Chris Lynn of INR 9.6 crore. The release list also included Robin Uthappa, who part of KKR's victorious 2014 run and was the Orange Cap winner for the same year, and Piyush Chawla, part of KKR's 2014 and 2012 title-winning team. Carlos Brathwaite too was released by the two-time champions. He had anyway joined the side as a replacement for Andre Russell.
KKR had headed into the auction with INR 35.26 crore left in their purse -- the second-most among the eight franchises -- and 11 spots available. They had retained a total of 13 players. Meanwhile, Siddesh Lad, had made his IPL debut last season in the match against Kings XI Punjab, was traded in from Mumbai Indians.
RELEASED: Robin Uthappa, Chris Lynn, Piyush Chawla, Joe Denly, Yarra Prithviraj, Nikhik Naik, KC Cariappa, Matthew Kelly, Shrikant Mundhe and Carlos Brathwaite.
PLAYERS BROUGHT: Eoin Morgan (INR 5.25 crores), Pat Cummins (INR 15.50 crores), M Siddarth (INR 20 lakhs), Varun Charavarthy (INR 4 crores), Rahul Tripathi (INR 60 Lakhs), Tom Baton (INR 1 crore), Nikhil Naik, Chris Green, Pravin Tambe
RETAINED: Dinesh Karthik, Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Kuldeep Yadav, Shubman Gill, Lockie Ferguson, Nitish Rana, Rinku Singh, Prasidh Krishna, Sandeep Warrier, Harry Gurney, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Shivam Mavi.
FULL SQUAD: Dinesh Karthik, Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Kuldeep Yadav, Shubman Gill, Lockie Ferguson, Nitish Rana, Rinku Singh, Prasidh Krishna, Sandeep Warrier, Harry Gurney, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Shivam Mavi, Eoin Morgan, Pat Cummins, M Siddarth, Varun Charavarthy, Rahul Tripathi, Tom Banton, Nikhil Naik, Chris Green, Pravin Tambe.
