Sam Curran became the highest-paid player in the history of Indian Premier League (IPL) on Friday, December 23, as he fetched a mind-boggling bid of Rs 18.5 crore from Punjab Kings in the IPL 2023 auction at Kochi.
The England all-rounder passed the likes of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli to bag the most lucrative contract in the history of IPL, and when quizzed about Curran being paid more than Rohit, Kohli, IPL chairman Arun Dhumal gave an interesting reply.
Being the best player of T20 World Cup 2022, having taken the most wickets in the tournament, he helped England romp to the World Cup title recently. After his performances, many had expected Curran to land a massive deal, and he ended up becoming the highest-ever-paid player in the lucrative league's history.
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After sparking a bidding war between the likes of Mumbai Indians (MI), Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and other franchises, eventually Punjab Kings fended off competition from other teams to land the all-rounder.
Veteran journalist Vimal Kumar shared a short video on his Twitter handle, wherein he had an interesting exchange with Dhumal.
When quizzed about Curran, being an overseas player, getting paid more in IPL 2023 than top Indian players like Rohit or Virat, Dhumal said that the latter wouldn't mind it, as sometimes money is not all that matters.
Watch:
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"I'm not the right person to comment on that but I'm sure they're happy with the roles that they have got, money is not about everything, they're leading their teams they're leading fantastically," said Dhumal.
It must be noted that while Rohit is still leading Mumbai Indians (MI), however, Virat had stepped down as Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) captain ahead of IPL 2022 campaign.
Later in the video, Vimal Kumar asked BCCI vice-president Rajeev Shukla about Curran landing the historic deal to which the latter said that it was a big achievement for the Englishman.
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"Yes I mean I thought that he (Curran) would fetch Rs 14-15 crore but the bidding reached 18 crores so that's a big achievement for him," stated Shukla.
