IPL Auction 2025: Sunil Gavaskar steps in to block Mitchell Starc from big payday

The legendary India National Cricket Team batsman Sunil Gavaskar is doubtful of the premier Australia National Cricket Team left-arm pacer Mitchell Starc getting a 'record price' at the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 mega auction.

Sunil Gavaskar said that Mitchell Starc will not attract big bids at the auction as the Indian Premier League franchises won't be very desperate to acquire his services.

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Mitchell Starc became the costliest player ever at IPL 2024 auction

The senior Australia National Cricket Team pacer Mitchell Starc shattered all the records at the Indian Premier League 2024 mini-auction and became the most expensive player in the history of the league.

Several franchises were engaged in intense bidding wars to acquire the services of the pacer, but in the end, it was the Kolkata Knight Riders franchise that managed to rope him in.

The franchise splashed INR 24.75 crore to buy him, and Mitchell Starc became the most expensive player in IPL history.

Starc, however, failed to repay the faith of the franchise as he failed miserably in the group stage. The pacer consistently leaked runs and wasn't able to get wickets with the likes of Harshit Rana and Andre Russell looking more threatening than him.

However, as the competition moved to the playoffs, Mitchell Starc brought out his beast mode and single-handedly won the matches for the team, playing a key role in their third title win.

Overall, in 14 matches, Starc picked up 17 wickets for the Kolkata Knight Riders at an average of 26.11, an economy of 10.61, and a strike rate of 14.7.

So I'm not too sure that he will go for the kind of record price - Sunil Gavaskar

Speaking on the Star Sports show ‘Game Plan,’ Gavaskar said that Starc will not fetch a big amount at the upcoming auction in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

“I think Mitchell Starc bowled well in the last two games. In the sense the semi-finals and the finals, but before that he was pretty expensive, conceding lots of runs in the start, conceding lots of runs in the final couple of overs as well. So I'm not too sure that he will go for the kind of record price that we went for in the previous auction.”

Notably, Starc was released by KKR as they decided to retain Rinku Singh (₹13 crore), Varun Chakaravarthy (₹12 crore), Sunil Narine (₹12 crore), Andre Russell (₹12 crore), Harshit Rana (₹4 crore), and Ramandeep Singh (₹4 crore).

KKR could go for him but not at 24 crores - Sunil Gavaskar

Sunil Gavaskar further said that the Kolkata Knight Riders might bid for him at the auction to rebuild their IPL 2024 winning squad, but they won't spend anywhere near INR 24 crore. He said:

“KKR (Kolkata Knight Riders) would want him back in the team because you want a winning combination, you want to get back your winning combination as much as possible. So, KKR could go for him but not at 24 crores."