IPL 2021: Chris Morris Opens Up On The Downside Of Becoming The Costliest Player In The Auction History

South Africa all-rounder Chris Morris’ life changed a whole lot for the better as Rajasthan Royals shelled out INR 16.25 crores in IPL 2021 auction, conducted in February. Chris Morris might not hold a place in the national side as of now; however, he remains one of the hottest prospects in franchise cricket. While the seam-bowling all-rounder had listed the benefits of a million-dollar contract, he also highlighted a downside.

The Pretoria-born cricketer was surprisingly released by the Royal Challengers Bangalore ahead of IPL 2021, despite producing the goods. The 33-year old featured in nine matches and took 11 wickets at 19.09 by maintaining an impressive economy rate of 6.63. With the bat, Morris had an excellent strike rate of 161.90. Now at the Rajasthan Royals, he would have the duty of filling Jofra Archer’s shoes with the new ball.

Chris Morris revealed that his phone blew up on the auction day and his friends refused paying for anything moving forward. The 33-year old conceded that they were all unable to understand what was happening as the bids kept spiralling upwards and went on to grab a few beers after that.

“My phone blew up – my mates from home were saying they’ll never pay for beers or anything again. I badly wanted to get back into the IPL. I had unfinished business. We basically laughed the whole way through, not believing what had happened. The first thing Simon did was grab a few beers so we could celebrate the day before a game, the professionals that we are,” Morris told BBC Sport.

I’m a big believer in wanting to look after what my family does in the future: Chris Morris

Chris Morris spoke about having not to worry about his family’s needs after receiving such a massive contract and believes in looking after his close ones. Simultaneously, the all-rounder conceded that it’s not about spending the funds recklessly but making sure everyone is looked after at the time of need.

“Everything I’ve wanted to do and set up my whole life after cricket has pretty much been set up. This is just the cherry on the cake. I’m a big believer in wanting to look after what my family does in the future – if my three-year-old son needs to have a car when he’s 18 or needs to go to university, I don’t have to worry about stuff like that. It’s not about spoiling us now, about buying cars, holiday home. It’s just about making sure everyone is looked after one day,” he added.

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