Australia opening batter David Warner, who won the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2016 title as the skipper of Sunrisers Hyderabad, has been blocked by the franchise. Warner took to Instagram to share the screenshots of him being blocked by SRH as he looked to congratulate compatriot Travis Head for his move to his old IPL team. Travis was bought by the Sunriers for a fee of Rs 6.80 core in the IPL 2024 auction in Dubai. But, as Warner look to congratulate him on social media, he found out that SRH have blocked him.
Other than Head, SRH also roped in Australia's World Cup-winning captain Pat Cummins for a fee of INR 20.50 crore, a record fee before it was broken by Kolkata Knight Riders' capture of Mitchell Starc. Cummins has been a regular at the IPL but skipped the 2023 edition to focus on the Ashes and the ODI World Cup.
An intense bidding war followed for Cummins with Mumbai Indians, Royal Challengers Bangalore, Chennai Super Kings, and Sunrisers Hyderabad raising their paddles frenetically to secure the services of the fast-bowling all-rounder.
In the end, it was SRH who broke the bank for Cummins, who drew the highest-ever bid surpassing the Rs 18.5 crore that Punjab Kings had shelled out for England's Sam Curran last year.
It was not the first time that Cummins attracted huge sums at the IPL auction. Ahead of the 2020 edition, KKR had paid Rs 15.5 crore for his services.
With PTI inputs