Twitter was flooded with memes after England allrounder Sam Curran made history on Friday, becoming the costliest player in the history of the Indian Premier League (IPL).

After a frenzied bidding war between the Mahendra Singh Dhoni-led Chennai Super Kings (CSK), and Punjab Kings (PBKS), it was the north Indian side that emerged victorious, securing Sam Curran's services for a staggering ₹18.5 crore.

“Very happy to have him on board, he has a lot of skills with both bat and ball,” PBKS coach Trevor Bayliss said after their successful bid.

Meanwhile, Team owner Ness Wadia was ecstatic after Sam Curran was bought by the Mohali-based franchise.

“He is a world-class player. He will play in any World XI team. Any of the top teams. He is that good. He is probably one of the best all-rounders in the world, if not the best all-rounder. He brings a great balance to the team. A good bunch of Indian players, all-rounders as well and we got Sam Curran. So, very happy,” Ness Wadia said.

Before PBKS' record bid for Curran, South African star Chris Morris was the costliest player in the cash-rich league after the Sanju Samson-led Rajasthan Royals purchased him in 2021 for ₹16.25 crore.

As Sam Curran joined the exclusive club of IPL multi-millionaires, the 24-year-old southpaw reacted by calling the development “fantastic”.

“Absolutely overwhelmed and incredibly humbled to receive that bid. Punjab is where I did my debut season a few years ago. Fantastic and looking forward to meet my English team-mates as well. It will be very different now but I know the stadium at Mohali pretty well, and surely our team-mates will help me. I feel confident going into this tournament and we had a fantastic World Cup. Incredibly excited to come to India for this big opportunity. So many things running through my mind. I knew at 9am this morning about the auction but I was struggling to find a stream, it wasn’t on TV in England and finally someone sent me a link. ̛I sat with my girlfriend and her dad to watch it. I actually turned my phone off because I thought I was behind and didn’t want to see any messages saying ‘congrats'. I saw the bids coming from Mumbai, then Chennai, having played for Chennai earlier it was cool to see them. I just got a call from the coach too about joining Punjab.”

With Sam Curran surpassing the likes of Yuvraj Singh who was sold for ₹16 crore once during the tournament, and even beating his current England captain Ben Stokes in the auction, several Twitter users posted memes to best describe the situation.

https://twitter.com/sharma97tara/status/1606246614510710784

https://twitter.com/ggk____/status/1606230590340358144

 

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Coming back to this year's auction, Rohit Sharma‘s Mumbai Indians (MI) hit the roof with their bid for Australian cricketer Cameron Green as they acquired him for a mammoth ₹17.5 crore.

The five-time IPL champions' winning bid for Cameron Green also made him the second most expensive player ever in the elite T20 tournament that came into being in 2008.

“Green is someone we've tracked for 2-3 years and we thought he’s exactly what we needed. He fits the right age profile for us; we've been looking for younger players for a few auctions,” Mumbai Indians owner Akash Ambani said at the auction.

Green was over the moon after being picked by Mumbai Indians before adding that he's been a huge fan of the IPL.

“I’m pinching myself that this has all happened. It’s such a weird feeling watching an auction for yourself. I can’t believe how nervous I was and I was shaking like anything when the final call was confirmed,” Cameron Green said.

“I’ve always been a huge fan of the IPL and it’s going to be so cool to be a part of it. The Mumbai Indians are one of the powerhouses of the competition so I feel very humbled to be joining them. I can’t wait to get there next year,” he added.

Among other overseas cricketers to hit the jackpot were Ben Stokes who went to CSK for ₹16.25 crore and ex-West Indies captain Nicholas Pooran who was acquired by Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) for ₹16 crore.

Former India captain and coach Anil Kumble was quite impressed with CSK and MI for buying Ben Stokes and Cameron Green respectively.

“Someone like Cameron Green – we spoke about this yesterday too saying Wankhede stadium will be probably ideal for him, so Mumbai Indians will be happy with that buy and Chennai Super Kings has done really well there with Ben Stokes – with the leadership there. MS Dhoni and Ben Stokes, I mean you can’t ask for a better sort of a combination,” Anil Kumble said.

Former South African skipper AB de Villers, however, felt that Ben Stokes didn't get the price he deserved.

“There is no amount of money enough for Ben Stokes – he is an unbelievable player, experienced with both bat and ball. I actually think he is a bit undervalued and is going to bring a lot to the party!,” AB de Villers concluded.