The Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 auction made headlines on Tuesday. Two Australians - Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins - were the centre of all attraction. First, Pat Cummins became the first-ever player in IPL history to breach the Rs 20 crore mark in auction. He was ultimately picked by SunRisers Hyderabad for Rs 20.50 crore. That was not all, as Mitchell Starc went for an even bigger purse. The Australian pacer saw an intense bidding war between Kolkata Knight Riders and Gujarat Titans, with the former picking him up for Rs 24.75 crore.
Even the third costliest player of the IPL 2024 auction, Daryl Mitchell, generated a bidding war. First, Delhi Capitals and Punjab Kings kept bidding for the New Zealand batter, until former backed out as the latter bid Rs 11.75 crore. PBKS co-owner Preity Zinta was quite confident that they would then bag Mitchell, but Chennai Super Kings entered the fight at that moment. Preity Zinta was shocked. Ultimately, CSK won the bidding war and picked Mitchell for Rs 14 crore.
The video of Preity Zinta's shocked reaction when CSK joined the bidding war for Daryl Mitchell has gone viral.
Daryl Mitchell expressed excitement to play for Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in the Indian Premier League (IPL) next year, saying that he is keen to learn from skipper MS Dhoni.
He became the third millionaire in the auction after Chennai Super Kings (CSK) took him for Rs 14 crore.
"Hi, Chennai fans, Daryl Mitchell here. First of all, thank you for allowing me to be a part of it and wear the yellow jersey. A wonderful franchise, cannot wait to be a part of it. Excited to play with Devon Conway, Mitchell Santner, and Rachin Ravindra, all Kiwis and learn from MS Dhoni. Looking forward to playing under Stephen Fleming (coach and former NZ skipper) and experiencing what it is like to be a part of CSK changing room," said Mitchell in a video by CSK.
In the 16th season of the IPL, the Kiwi opener did not take part in the tournament. His last season was in 2022 with Rajasthan Royals (RR). He played only two matches in the extravagant T20 tournament and scored 33 runs. However, in the upcoming season, he will don the yellow jersey.
Daryl was New Zealand's second-most successful batter in WC 2023, scoring 552 runs in 10 matches with two centuries and two fifties at an average of 69.00. The all-rounder has 1,069 runs for Kiwis in 56 T20Is at an average of 24.86, with five fifties and eight wickets as well. He is a batting all-rounder.
With ANI inputs