Barbadian Shai Hope got his maiden Indian Premier League (IPL) contract Tuesday when the Delhi Capitals purchased his talents in the 2024 auction for INR 75 Lakh which equates to US $90 000 dollars.
This deal comes at the culmination of a successful year for the West Indies One Day International (ODI) captain.
Earlier this year he top scored in the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) with 481 runs at an average of 53.44 to help Guyana Amazon Warriors seal their first title. Most notably those runs came at a strike rate of 140.23 which ranked amongst the highest for top order batsmen.
The right hander also became the first West Indies captain since 2007 to secure an ODI series win against England, scoring his 16th ODI century in a four-wicket win at Kensington Oval.
Antiguan fast bowler Alzarri Joseph got the biggest deal in the Caribbean as Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) paid INR 11.50 crore for him (USD $1 385 000). Joseph, who was released by the Gujarat Titans, was hotly fought for by Chennai Super Kings, Lucknow SuperGiants and eventual winners RCB.
Rajasthan Royals surprised the 2024 auction house when they spent more than half their auction purse on West Indies T20 captain Rovman Powell who went for INR 7.4 crore. Previously Powell’s auction price was INR 2.8 crore that the Capitals paid for him in the 2022 auction. Guyanese left hander Sherfane Rutherford was picked up by Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) for INR 1.5 crore.
Barbadian left hander Kyle Mayers returns to the Lucknow SuperGiants and leads the list of retained West Indians which also includes Shimron Hetmyer (Rajasthan Royals), Sunil Narine (KKR), Andre Russell (KKR) and (Romario Shepherd (Mumbai Indians).
The biggest news of the auction was when Australian Mitchell Starc broke the record for the most expensive player at an IPL auction after being bought by KKR for INR 24.75 crore (US $2 982 000). The previous record was held by his countryman and captain Patrick Cummins just hours prior when he was snapped by Sunrisers Hyderabad for INR 20.50 crore (USD $2 470 000). (JC)