‘Virat Kohli should be worth Rs 42 cr’: Ex-India player lambasts exorbitant bid for Starc at IPL 2024 auction

Former Indian cricketer Aakash Chopra raised eyebrows at the bid offered for Australia’s Mitchell Starc at the IPL 2024 auction and questioned if it made any sense. Starc etched his name in IPL history by becoming the most expensive player as he was bagged by KKR for Rs 24.75 cr. While many opined that Indian pacers and uncapped players deserved more money than foreign players, Chopra had an interesting observation to make and it was related to one of India’s best – Virat Kohli.

‘Virat Kohli should get Rs 42 cr’

In the latest video uploaded on his YouTube channel, Aakash Chopra questioned the disparity in pay between foreign players and Indian ones. Lashing out at the Rs 25 cr bid offered to Starc, Chopra questioned the logic of the auction market and said that Virat Kohli should be offered Rs 42 cr instead. The commentator opined that there was a fault in the system if this disparity wasn’t resolved.

“It’s the Indian Premier League. How is one getting paid so less and the other so much? Loyalty is royalty. If tomorrow, Bumrah tells MI ‘Please release me and I’ll put my name in the auction’. Or if Kohli says the same to RCB, their prices will rise, right? And that’s how it should be? If this auction market decides that Starc’s price is ₹25 crore, then it will also decide that Kohli should be worth 42 crore, or Bumrah 35 crore. If that isn’t happening, there is a fault“, Aakash Chopra said.

He further advocated a cap on the money set aside from the purse for overseas players to ensure parity with other Indian players. He further justified SRH’s decision to offer Rs 20.5 cr to Pat Cummins, noting that it would only make sense if they considered him for the captaincy role.

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