South Africa all-rounder Chris Morris became the most expensive buy in Indian Premier Leage ever history as he was sold to Rajasthan Royals for Rs. 16.25 crore. Before Morris, Yuvraj Singh, at Rs 16 crore, was the most expensive buy in IPL history. Morris came in to the auction at a base price of Rs. 75 lakh. Morris broke all bidding records at the IPL auction today as teams frantically went after him. The most expensive overseas buy before Morris was Pat Cummins, who was bought by Kolkata Knight Riders ahead of IPL 2020 for Rs. 15.5 crore.
Morris, a right-arm fast bowler and a lower-order hitter, has played 70 IPL games so far in the league and has scored 551 runs at 23.95 and a strike rate of 157.87.
With the ball, Morris has 80 wickets to his credit at 23.98 and an economy rate of 7.81 runs per over.
A seasoned professional for South Africa, “Tipo” Morris made his international debut in 2012 in a T20I against New Zealand. Since then he has featured in 23 T20Is and has 133 runs and 34 wickets to show.
The 33-year-old has played 218 T20s overall and scored 1764 runs at 21 and a strike rate of 151.02. He has also picked up 270 wickets at 22.09 and an economy rate of 7.76 runs per over.
However, Morris hasn’t played any international cricket since 2019.
That notwithstanding, Morris could be an able new-ball bowling partner to Jofra Archer as Rajasthan now have two players who hit 90 mph consistently with the new ball and bowl well at the death.
Morris could also be a back-up for Ben Stokes, Rajasthan’s star all-rounder, should Stokes suffer an injury through the tournament.
With Jos Buttler also in the mix, Rajasthan have a good quartet of overseas players for IPL 2021.
