"Is this what is called kalyug?" - Aakash Chopra on Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins earning much more than Bumrah, Dhoni, Kohli, Rohit, etc

Aakash Chopra has questioned Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins being paid much more than India's top stars in the Indian Premier League (IPL).

The Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) paid ₹24.75 crore to buy Starc at the IPL 2024 auction in Dubai on Tuesday. The SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH) dished out ₹20.50 crore to acquire Cummins' services earlier in the day.

In a video shared on his YouTube channel, Chopra expressed hurt about overseas players earning more than the likes of Jasprit Bumrah, MS Dhoni, Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma through the IPL. He elaborated (0:01):

"Mitchell Starc - 24.75 crore rupees. Pat Cummins - 20.50 crore rupees. Jasprit Bumrah is 12 crores, MS Dhoni is also 12 crores, Virat Kohli - 17 (15) crores, and Rohit Sharma is also 16 crores. Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins, Sam Curran, Cameron Green - all of them are more expensive than them. Is this what is called kalyug?"

The former India opener highlighted the disparity between Starc and Bumrah's prices. He said (2:00):

"Who is the No. 1 T20 bowler in the world at the moment? Who is the No. 1 bowler of this IPL? That player's name is Jasrpit Bumrah, and Bumrah gets 12 and Starc gets close to 25. It is wrong. I don't grudge anybody's money. I will be the happiest if everyone gets as much money as they can get, but how is this right?"

Chopra claimed that loyalty is not getting rewarded as the likes of Kohli and Bumrah might have been bought for more than 35 crores if they had put their names in the auction. He suggested that teams should have separate budgets for Indian and overseas players to avoid this discrepancy.

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"They had saved money for him" - Aakash Chopra on KKR acquiring Mitchell Starc

Mitchell Starc was previously bought by KKR for IPL 2018 but opted out of the tournament due to injury.

Aakash Chopra reckons the Kolkata Knight Riders were desperate to acquire Mitchell Starc. He observed (1:05):

"KKR and Gujarat were fighting among themselves. It was like who would blink first. Eventually, Kolkata Knight Riders got Mitchell Starc for 24.75 crores. Why have they picked him? The two-bouncer rule has come, so it seems like there is more focus on fast bowlers. They had saved money for him. They wanted him at any cost."

The cricketer-turned-commentator pointed out that the seam-bowling department was KKR's major concern heading into the auction. He stated:

"They already had a lot of spinners and have strengthened that even further. The rest of the team was almost ready. They needed an Indian keeper, but they needed fast bowlers and definitely one overseas fast bowler, and it would have been even better if they had got two or three because places were vacant."

Apart from Starc, KKR acquired Gus Atkinson as an overseas seamer. Sherfane Rutherford and Mujeeb Ur Rahman were their other overseas buys at the auction.