'That's a steal' - Twitter explodes as Pat Cummins goes back to Kolkata Knight Riders

Cummins attracted bids from KKR and both new franchises, Gujarat Titans and Lucknow Super Giants.

By Pratyay Tiwari

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Pat Cummins
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Pat Cummins. (Photo Source: IPL/BCCI)

Australian quick Pat Cummins stayed with his former team Kolkata Knight Riders, bagging an INR 7.25 crore deal on the first day of the IPL 2022 mega auction. Cummins, who was slotted in as one of the ten marquee players that set the auction ball rolling, attracted bids from KKR and both new members Gujarat Titans and Lucknow Super Giants before KKR occupied him.

Cummins, who recently led Australia to a more-than-convincing 4-0 victory in the home Ashes, has 38 wickets at an average and strike rate of 30.13 and 21.95 in his 37-match IPL career. He could well double-up with the bat with quick runs at the backend of the innings – as his batting strike rate of nearly 141 suggests – apart from being a part of the leadership group, if not the captain itself.

Meanwhile, he and his countrymen David Warner as well as Steve Smith are set to miss the initial few games in the first leg of the tournament’s 15th edition owing to national commitments as Australia will be touring Pakistan until April 5, with the IPL likely to run between March-end to May-end.

Australia’s imminent all-format Pakistan tour – their first after 1998 under Mark Taylor – includes three Tests, running until March 25 across three venues, followed by as many ODIs and a one-off T20I in Rawalpindi. As it stands, all Pakistan-bound Australia players are likely to join their IPL teams in the second week of April.

“We do see the IPL as a really good development opportunity when it fits, but there’s obviously a huge amount of cricket with a series (in Sri Lanka) planned for immediately-post the IPL as well,” Georgey Bailey, Australia’s chief selector, had said during a recent media interaction. “So it will be about working with the individuals to ensure they’re getting the preparation they need, but we certainly won’t be releasing players to the IPL while Australia are playing.”

Concerns of player availability, meanwhile, are not limited to only Australia, as Bangladesh’s tour of South Africa, which begins with three ODIs between March 18 and 23, followed by two Tests between March 30 and April 11 means IPL players from those two nations will be absent as well.

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