Alyssa Healy’s hilarious reaction to Mitchell Starc’s $4.4m IPL stunner as Warner blocked by former team in bizarre scenes

Australian fast bowlers Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins became the most expensive players in Indian Premier League history Tuesday, with franchises dishing out millions of dollars for their services at the glitzy Twenty20 tournament.

Starc, who last played in the IPL eight years ago, made a smashing comeback when he was snapped up by Kolkata Knight Riders for 247.5 million rupees ($4.42 million AUD), setting an all-time IPL auction record.

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“We won, Mr Starc!” the franchise posted on X, formerly Twitter. Starc, 33, broke the record set by Cummins earlier in the day when Sunrisers Hyderabad paid 205 million rupees ($3.66 million AUD) for the World Cup-winning skipper.

Before Tuesday, England all-rounder Sam Curran was the most expensive player after being bought for $2.23 million last year by Punjab Kings.

“Pumped to be joining SRH for the upcoming IPL season,” Cummins, who skipped this year’s IPL because of a packed calendar, said in a video posted by the franchise on social media.

“I have played in Hyderabad a few times and always loved it so can’t wait to get started.” Hyderabad beat Royal Challengers Bangalore in a fervent bidding session for Cummins, to claps and cheers from other franchises participating in the auction, held this year in Dubai.

Both Australians were key members of the team that led Australia to ODI World Cup victory in November, beating hosts India in the final at Ahmedabad.

Cummins had silenced a crowd of nearly 100,000 when he bowled out star batsman Virat Kohli, and was widely lauded for leading Australia to the title.

The 30-year-old made a previous auction record of $2.17 million when he signed with the Kolkata Knight Riders in 2019.

Both Starc and Cummins had entered this auction with a base price of $240,000, the top tier at which players can start the bidding for their services.

Former Australia skipper Steve Smith went unsold in the first round, along with fellow wicketkeeper Josh Inglis.

News of the monster Aussie bids generated plenty of reaction in the cricket world.

But perhaps the best was saved for Starc’s wife, Australian star Alyssa Healy.

In a video posted on social media, Healy can be seen raising her eyebrows after KKR secured Starc for a record fee before taking a drink of beer.

Cummins’ eye-watering deal also generated plenty of commentary, some questioning why Sunrisers Hyderabad had spent so big.

Bowlers, meanwhile, fetched a premium in the auction, none more so that Australia fast men with a key change to IPL rules having a huge impact.

In a bid to even the contest between bat and ball, bowlers will now be permitted two bouncers per over in the 2024 competition.

Fellow Aussie David Warner was in a mood to celebrate the big-money deals of his countrymen on auction night.

The opening batsman attempted to share posts from Cummins and Travis Head after they were bought by Sunrisers Hyderabad only to find he had been blocked by his former team from accessing their social media platforms.

He then took to Instagram to share the development.

Warner was a fan favourite at SRH only to dumped from the captaincy in 2021 and then axed from the team altogether in 2021.

In an interview with Sports Today in India at the time, Warner said he was blindsided by the decision and had not been given a reason.

“The disappointing thing for me was not being explained why I was dropped as captain,” he said.

“I think if you want to go along the lines of form, it’s a difficult one because I guess whatever you’ve done in the past would have some weight moving forward, especially when you’ve played 100 games for the franchise.

“You don‘t know who is going for you, who wants you to be selected, who doesn’t. End of the day you’re told you’re not playing.“It’s difficult, a bitter pill to swallow, but I don’t think I will ever get answers and must move on.”

More than 300 players were up for grabs at Tuesday’s auction for the cash-rich tournament, likely to be held from March next year.

The IPL is a huge earner for Indian cricket and the tournament makes more than $11 billion for the economy each year, according to pre-pandemic estimates.

Last June, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) sold the broadcast rights for the next five IPL seasons to global media giants for an eye-watering $6.2 billion.

Mumbai Indians are the richest and most successful side in IPL history, with five titles to their name.

Attracting some of world cricket’s top stars with bumper salaries, the pioneering IPL helped make Twenty20 hugely popular, attracting hundreds of millions of viewers and spawning copycat events worldwide.

This year, the BCCI staged its inaugural women’s edition of the T20 tournament, earning nearly $700 million in combined franchise and media rights