CNN
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English cricketer Sam Curran has change into the costliest public sale purchase within the historical past of the Indian Premier League (IPL) – after being bought to the Punjab Kings for 18.5 crore rupees ($2.22 million).
Friday’s public sale, which happened within the Indian metropolis of Kochi, noticed a number of information damaged – with English and Australian cricketers being the principle beneficiaries.
Six franchises made a bid for the 24-year-old Curran earlier than the Punjab Kings’ record-breaking payment.
Responding to the information, Curran tweeted: “Back to where it all started! Looking forward to it.”
He beforehand performed for the Punjab Kings within the 2017 IPL season underneath the staff’s former title, Kings XI Punjab.
Other massive public sale buys included Australian cricketer Cameron Green, who joined the Mumbai Indians franchise for 17.5 crore (roughly $2.1 million) and England males’s Test captain Ben Stokes, who was purchased by the Chennai Super Kings franchise for 16.25 crore (roughly $1.95 million).
Launched in 2007, the IPL is among the world’s most useful sports activities properties – attracting the most effective cricketers on big-money contracts.
The match runs for slightly over two months a 12 months however its worth to media corporations has soared as the worldwide viewers has exploded.
On cost-per-match phrases, it overtook the English Premier League and ranks behind solely the National Football League within the United States.
It bought its media rights from this 12 months by way of 2027 for $6.2 billion – break up between tv rights (bought by Disney-owned Star India) and streaming rights (bought by Viacom18, a three way partnership between Paramount and Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries).
The 2023 season will start on March 20 and run by way of May.