Rajasthan Royals’ Director of Cricket, Kumar Sangakkara accepted that the fact that the price tag on the all-rounder, Chris Morris is on the higher side in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 auction, but he feels that the South African has the ability to finish the games with the bat. Morris on Thursday became the most expensive player at an IPL auction after he was bought by Rajasthan Royals for ₹16.25 crore. Morris entered with a base price of ₹75 lakhs.
Talking about Chris Morris, Kumar Sangakkara said, “We’re also glad to get Chris Morris with us simply for what he brings to the side, both with the bat and ball. With the ball especially, his numbers across the IPLs are really good and his ability to finish games with the bat down the order is useful. Yes the price was on the higher side, but we’re looking for a very specific role with Chris and really happy to have someone like him in our squad.”
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The Indian all-rounder Shivam Dube was also picked by Rajasthan Royals for ₹4.4 crores during the auction. Sangakkara said that the Royals were specifically looking for someone like Shivam for the middle-order spot.
Elaborating the same, Kumar Sangakkara said, “From our point of view we were targeting certain players and we’re happy to get our targets. We were looking at Shivam Dube for that middle-order spot in our batting line-up and finally got him. We’re excited to have picked up some talented Indian youngsters, all of whom add different dimensions to our squad.”
The Royals also added Bangladesh left-armer Mustafizur Rahman to their fast-bowling arsenal for the season at his base price of ₹1 crore. Mustafizur brings in big international and IPL championship experience with him to the Royals squad.
Manoj Badale, lead owner, Rajasthan Royals also spoke on the auction acquisitions, he said: “You can only really judge the auction after the tournament’s played out but we’re really pleased with the proceedings, in terms of the plans we had and the players that we targeted, we’re quite pleased with how it unfolded for us.”
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Another left-armer added to the pace brigade is Chetan Sakariya. The Saurashtra fast bowler has already made a name for himself on the domestic circuit and the Royals were quick to swoop in and get him for ₹1.20 crores ahead of Royal Challengers Bangalore.
