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IPL 2021: Rajasthan Royals reveals why they paid record Rs 16.25 crore for Chris Morris in auction

IPL 2021: Rajasthan Royals reveals why they paid record Rs 16.25 crore for Chris Morris in auction. Chris Morris became the most expensive player in the history of the IPL.

Chris Morris became the most expensive player in the history of the IPL

Chennai, February 19: Rajasthan Royals' Director of Cricket, Kumar Sangakkara though agreed that the price of Chris Morris was on the higher side in the Indian Premier League (IPL 2021) auction, he was happy to have the South Africa all-rounder for his ability to finish the games with the bat.

Morris became the most expensive player at an IPL auction after he was bought by Rajasthan Royals for Rs 16.25 crore. Morris entered with a base price of Rs 75 lakh. Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) both showed interest before Rajasthan Royals made a belated entry after RCB pulled out at Rs 10 crore.

Bidding continued between Mumbai Indians and Rajasthan Royals and the South African all-rounder was finally sold to the Royals. The fee smashed the record Rs 16 crore paid for Yuvraj Singh by Delhi Daredevils in 2015.

"We're also glad to get Chris Morris with us simply for what he brings to the side, both with the bat and ball. With the ball especially, his numbers across the IPLs are really good and his ability to finish games with the bat down the order is useful," said Sangakkara.

"Yes, the price was on the higher side, but we're looking for a very specific role with Chris and really happy to have someone like him in our squad," he added.

India all-rounder Shivam Dube was also picked by Rajasthan Royals for Rs 4.4 crore during the auction. Sangakkara, the former Sri Lanka skipper said that the side was specifically looking for someone like Shivam for the middle-order spot.

"It was an exciting auction. From our point of view we were targeting certain players and we're happy to get our targets. We were looking at Shivam Dube for that middle-order spot in our batting line-up and finally got him," said Sangakkara.

"We're excited to have picked up some talented Indian youngsters, all of whom add different dimensions to our squad. As a team, we're delighted with the targets we were able to get and looking forward to working with the squad during the IPL now," he added.

The Royals also added Bangladesh left-armer Mustafizur Rehman to their fast bowling arsenal for the season at his base price of 1 cr. Mustafizur brings in big international and IPL championship experience with him to the Royals squad.

Manoj Badale, owner, Rajasthan Royals also spoke on the auction acquisitions: "You can only really judge the auction after the tournament's played out but we're really pleased with the proceedings, in terms of the plans we had and the players that we targeted, we're quite pleased with how it unfolded for us."

Story first published: Friday, February 19, 2021, 23:28 [IST]
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