“I'm not sure that he will go for record price” - Sunil Gavaskar doubts star Australian pacer will attract big bids in IPL 2025 mega auction

Former Indian cricketer-turned-broadcaster Sunil Gavaskar has predicted that star Australian pacer Mitchell Starc will not fetch the record price he received in the 2024 IPL auction. Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) had acquired the left-arm pacer for ₹24.75 crore, making him the most expensive player in the tournament's history.

While the 34-year-old bowled well in the Qualifier and Final, taking five wickets, his overall performance was less impressive. Starc took 17 wickets in 14 matches but struggled with an economy rate of 10.61 runs per over. KKR decided to release Starc, and the pacer is now back in the auction.

On the Star Sports show ‘Game Plan,’ Gavaskar stated that the pacer didn’t perform up to expectations and expressed uncertainty about Starc fetching the price as he did in the previous IPL auction. He said:

“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.”

The 75-year-old further added that while KKR might want to bring him back to maintain their winning combination, they are unlikely to pay him ₹24 crore.

“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,” Gavaskar said.

The IPL 2025 mega auction is scheduled to take place on November 24 and 25 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

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Kolkata Knight Riders have also released their title-winning skipper Shreyas Iyer

The Knight Riders claimed their third IPL title in the 2024 edition, under the leadership of Indian cricketer Shreyas Iyer. However, the franchise has parted ways with the star batter, and Iyer will now go under the hammer. Other notable releases include Philip Salt, Venkatesh Iyer, and Nitish Rana.

Kolkata has retained six players: 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).