Venky Mysore defends spending INR 24.75 crore on Mitchell Starc

Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) snapped up Mitchell Starc for a record-breaking INR 24.75 crore in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 auction. This came just moments after Pat Cummins became the first player to breach the INR 20 crore mark when Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) bought him for INR 20.5 crore. 

However, KKR CEO Venky Mysore has defended splashing out such a huge sum of money, saying that things have changed quite a bit since 2008, given the salary cap in the last 15 years have been very different, and each team use the money allotted to them differently.

Welcome back, record-breaker! 🫡 pic.twitter.com/KwSZui8GBj

— KolkataKnightRiders (@KKRiders) December 19, 2023

"Well, you know, I think my take on this is if you sort of look at it from the set of lenses at the price you pay for a player. And now it seems like, wow, Rs 24.75 crore," Venky Mysrore said on the sidelines of the IPL auction in Dubai.

"I was telling someone that the salary cap of a team when IPL started in 2008 was 20 crore, the entire salary cap. So things have changed, right? But, you know, I think our view is, when the auction is over, all the 10 teams are going to walk out of the auction having spent Rs 100 crore, and each team decides to slice it differently."

"So what you've paid to somebody up down what not is a matter of perspective. Ultimately, we're all spending the same amount of money."

Before this auction, Sam Curran was the most expensive player when Punjab Kings (PBKS) bought him in the last auction.