South African all-rounder Chris Morris has became the most expensive player in the history of the IPL with Rajasthan Royals breaking the bank to acquire his services for INR 16.25 Cr. His base price was INR 75 lakh.
The previous most expensive player in the history of the IPL was Yuvraj Singh (Delhi) at INR 16 Cr followed by Australian Pat Cummins at 15.5 Cr for KKR.
Morris sparked off an intense bidding war at the IPL Player Auction in Chennai with his old employers Royal Challengers Bangalore looking to get him back at one point.
However, they dropped out of the bidding race as it inched closer to the INR 10 Cr mark which is when Mumbai Indians and Rajasthan Royals escalated matters. The two teams had an intense bidding war and were joined by Punjab.
The three teams kept bidding and the conversations at the table became intense as well.
Eventually Mumbai dropped out of the race and Punjab and Royals raised the bar for the South African pacer, who had a good season last year with RCB but faced injury problems.
Morris in fact has now played international cricket in the last year but RR’s team officials informed that they had spoken to the all-rounder before the auction to check about his recovery.
We spoke to Chris before the auction and did a full medical review. We did due diligence, he’s an ex-Royal who can deal with a price tag like that. Quality bowler through all phases of the game, can win us games with the bat too.Jake Lush McCrum, CEO - RR
The RR official also revealed that 16.25 was their last bid for Morris.
‘We did stretch, that was our last bid, luckily Kings XI held back. Delighted to have him back with the Royals,’ said Lush.
Morris’ IPL Career
RR paid through the nose despite knowing that Morris's batting was a total failure last year, aggregating 34 at a poor average of 8.5. He, however, picked 11 wickets in nine matches and conceded runs at just 6.63.
The 33-year-old right-arm pace bowler, who has played four Tests, 42 ODIs and 23 T20Is, featured in seven IPL seasons. He has picked 80 wickets in 70 matches but has not done much with the bat, scoring just 551 runs at an average of 23.95 and scoring two half-centuries.
Morris was released by Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) ahead of Thursday's auction. Perhaps realising that they made a mistake, RCB went after him till Rs. 9.75 crore bid to get him again, but then gave up. Last year, RCB had paid Rs.10 crore for him.
The right-armer took 13 wickets in 2019, 12 scalps in 2017, 13 wickets in 2016, 13 again in 2015 and 15 in 2013. While he hasn't scored much in IPL, his strike rate has been impressive at 157.87.
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