England’s Eoin Morgan, Jason Roy, Chris Woakes and Sam Curran have all earned six-figure contracts in the Indian Premier League’s player auction.
Morgan, who led England to World Cup success in 2019, was auctioned for £563,000 to Kolkata Knight Riders, who are expected to name him as captain.
Kolkata also made Australia’s Pat Cummins (£1.7m) the most expensive overseas player in IPL history.
Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler and Jofra Archer remain with Rajasthan Royals.
The England trio were not part of the auction after the franchise opted to retain them from last season’s squad. Jonny Bairstow and Moeen Ali were also retained by Sunrisers Hyderabad and Royal Challengers Bangalore respectively.
Jason Roy and Chris Woakes both went to Delhi Capitals for their base price of £161,000, while Sam Curran was bought by Chennai Super Kings for £590,000.
Curran was released from his £800,000 contract by Kings XI Punjab after his debut season in 2019 despite taking a match-winning hat-trick in one game.
Knight Riders pin their hopes on pace of Cummins
Cummins, 26, is number one in the ICC Test bowling rankings and his pace and accuracy marked him out as a standout player in the auction.
Delhi and the Royal Challengers were both in for him, before the Knight Riders made their move.
At £1.7m, Cummins is the fourth costliest player in IPL auction history and the most expensive overseas signing, marginally surpassing the fee commanded by Stokes in 2017.
Only Yuvraj Singh in 2014 and 2015 and Gautam Gambhir (2011) have gone for more.
Other big money foreign purchases included Australia all-rounder Glenn Maxwell, who joined Kings XI Punjab for £1.15m.
Chris Morris, who was omitted from South Africa’s Test squad for the forthcoming series with England, was bought by Bangalore for £1.1m, along with Australia one-day captain Aaron Finch for £473,000.
West Indies duo Sheldon Cottrell and Shimron Hetmyer were also popular and will make their IPL debuts. Left-arm bowler Cottrell was a £914,000 purchase for Kings XI, and Hetmyer will play alongside Roy and Woakes for Delhi after they signed him for £833,000.
Among those who went unsold were South Africa’s Dale Steyn and New Zealand’s Tim Southee.
The 2020 edition, which begins in April, will be the 13th season of the IPL, which was won in 2019 by Mumbai Indians.
| IPL auction 2020 top earner | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Player | Country | Price | Franchise |
| Pat Cummins | Australia | £1.7m | Kolkata Knight Riders |
| Glenn Maxwell | Australia | £1.15m | Kings XI Punjab |
| Chris Morris | South Africa | £1.1m | Royal Challengers Bangalore |
| Sheldon Cottrell | West Indies | £914,000 | Kings XI Punjab |
| Nathan Coulter-Nile | Australia | £863,000 | Mumbai Indians |
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