Think tank of KKR celebrates after successfully bidding for Mitchell Starc during the IPL auction in Dubai. Courtesy:IPL website

Mohammad Abdullah, Senior Sports Reporter

Australian cricketers dominated the Indian Premier League (IPL) auction as Mitchell Starc was sold for a record price of $2.9 million followed by Pat Cummins, who bagged $2.4 million in Dubai on Tuesday.

Before Cummins the record for the highest paid player in the IPl was held by Sam Curran of England, who was bought by Punjab Kings for $2.20 millions.

There was a long duel between Gujarat Titans and Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) for Starc. Both the teams kept on bidding for the lanky pacer as they raised the temperature by a notch.

Everyone’s heart was pounding as the bid, which started with a base price of $240,000, had reached the price 2.4 million with none of the teams ready to give up. Kolkata had the last laugh as they picked up Starc finally for the highest price ever in the history of the IPL auctions.

Starc has not played in the IPL since 2015, but that was not enough to deter KKR from making him as the costliest IPL player ever.

The history was created twice during the auction as Cummins was sold for an unprecedented price of $2.4 million earlier in the day before Starc was picked by Kolkata for a slightly higher price.

A total of 300 players went under the hammer for remaining 77 slots at the IPL auction in Dubai. Out of which 30 slots were reserved for overseas players.

After the retention window closed earlier in November, it was the last chance for the franchises to plug the holes and pick up the players they wanted to have in their squad.

All the ten franchises showed an unprecedented generosity as they splashed huge amounts of cash for their favourite players.

A total purse of 31.44 million dollars were allocated for the auction with all the ten franchises combined together.

Gujarat had the maximum budget of $4.56 millions for picking eight players, including two overseas cricketers. While Lucknow, who went on to play the finals in their debut season, had the minimum purse of 1.3 million dollars.

Sunrisers Hyderabad dished out huge cash to buy Cummins, who is the captain of the Australian Test and ODI teams, guided them to the sixth ODI World Cup title recently.

Travis Head was the other Australian player, who hogged the limelight, as he was bought for a whopping $820,000 by SRH. However, former Australian captain Steve Smith went unsold. Once upon a time, Smith used to be one of the most sought-after players.

SRH did not shy away in showing their penchant for Australian players and regaining the title at any cost as not only they spent more than 50 per cent their purse on Cummins but also bought Head, who made headlines with a stupendous century against India in the World Cup final, for eight hundred thousand dollars.

Daryl Mitchell was the third most expensive player to be sold as Chennai broke their bank to procure the New Zealand all-rounder, acquiring him for $1.74 millions.

Owing to his aggressive style of play, he is one of the most wanted players in T20 cricket.

Harshat Patel was the most expensive Indian cricketer, who was taken up by Punjab Kings for $1.4 millions. Patel is medium pacer and his ability to move the ball on either side with the same ease makes him a dangerous customer.

Royal Challengers Bangalore doled out huge cash for West Indies pacer Alzarri Joseph. His raw pace and ability to bounce the ball makes him a special death over bowlers.

Among the other notable purchases were Chris Woakes of England, Shradul Thakur of India, Rachin Ravindra of New Zealand.

The auction was conducted in six sets. In the first set, 70

capped batters were auctioned.  The bid started with the West Indian batsman Rovman Powell with a bid price of $ 120,000. But with the interest of teams like KKR and RR, the West Indian was finally sold for $ 880000.

Earlier, 173 players were retained by all the 10 franchises combined together during the retention window, which closed in November.

Star all-rounder Hardik Pandya headlined the trading window as he was traded by Mumbai Indians in an all cash deal for a reported amount of $1.8 millions.

He replaced Rohit Sharma as MI captain. Rohit has led Mumbai to IPL glory for five times. His sacking as captain of MI came as a surprise to many.