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Harbhajan Singh & Mitchell Starc (Source: Twitter)
Australia handed India a heartbreak in the 2023 ODI World Cup, but did they pay the price? No, instead they got a huge reward from the Indians. Their skipper Pat Cummins and premier pacer Mitchell Starc have become the two most expensive players in the history of the Indian Premier League (IPL). Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) bought Cummins for INR 20.50 crore and Kolkata Knight Riders (SRH) got Starc onboard for a whopping INR 24.75 crore.
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Meanwhile, former Indian cricketer Harbhajan Singh recently shared a hilarious meme on his Instagram featuring Starc, after the Aussie quick bagged a lucrative deal in the 2024 IPL mini-auction. A video of Starc talking to the broadcaster was edited with a different voice and words. The audio is of the 33-year-old saying, play in the league, take money from India and beat them in the World Cup.
Bhaji captioned the post with: "Just for laugh."
Watch the video below:
Starc returns to IPL after 9 years
Stark was expected to fetch a huge sum at the auction, but what he got shocked everyone. It remains to be seen if this record will ever be broken. The left-arm pacer is undoubtedly one of the finest bowlers of the current era. He will be making a comeback in the IPL after 9 long years. He was part of Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in 2015 and since then left the league to be fit for the national team.
Both KKR and Gujarat Titans (GT) were involved in bidding for the Australian star, and it was Knight Riders who finally secured his services. Notably, Starc was a part of KKR in the 2018 IPL, but he missed the entire season due to injury. The two-time champions have not been doing well in the last few seasons and with Starc coming into the fold, they will be hoping for a comeback this time around.
"It is an amazing moment for Mitch. It is a great justification for the hard work he has put in and (for) probably some of the choices he has made over the last eight years to put his country first. I was actually in the gym, not thinking of beers, working hard (and) watching it all unfold. (It was an) amazing day for him and Pat (Cummins)," said Starc's wife and Australia women's cricketer Alyssa Healy.