Chris Morris of South Africa has become the costliest bet of IPL, after Rajasthan Royals picked him up at the IPL 2021 Auction today, for a whopping Rs 16.25 Crore. Interestingly, the Rajasthan Royals ended IPL 2020 at the base of the table.

He is followed by Australian Glenn Maxwell, who was sold for Rs 14.25 Crore to the Royal Challengers Banglore. While Chris Morris was picked up for 22X his base price of Rs 75 Lakh, Glenn Maxwell was sold for just twice his base price of Rs 2 Crore.  The price paid by Rajasthan Royals for Chris Morris crosses the earlier maximum of Rs 16 Crore paid by Delhi Daredevils for Yuvraj Singh in IPL 2015.

Virat Kohli is still the highest salary grosser, with Rs 17 Crore as his paycheck from Royal Challengers Bangalore. The other big buys this IPL 2021 include Kyle Jamieson (Rs 15Cr - RCB), Jhye Richardson (Rs 14Cr. - Punjab Kings), K Gowtham (Rs. 9.25Cr - CSK), Tom Curran (Rs. 5.25Cr - Delhi Capitals), Nathan Coulter Nile (Rs. 5Cr - Mumbai Indians), Shakib Al Hasan (Rs. 3.2Cr - KKR) and Kedar Jadhav (Rs. 2Cr - Sunrisers Hyderabad).

VIVO back as IPL Title Sponsor

Meanwhile the action taken by IPL in 2020 to support the anti-Chinese sentiments last year seemed to be nothing more than a rhetoric. Chinese mobile brand VIVO is back as IPL 2021 Title Sponsor as confirmed by IPL Chairman Brijesh Patel. Barely 5 months have passed since Dream 11 stepped in as IPL 2020 title sponsor, after the organisers faced flak over the Chinese brand being the face of the Indian Premier League. Brijesh Patel 'proudly' announced today that VIVO is back as title sponsor for the IPL this year, after (being made to) staying away due to the anti-China sentiments.

In August 2020, when the border clashes of the Indian Army with Chinese counterparts had instigated anti-Chinese sentiments, the BCCI had suspended the 5 year running contract with VIVO, by making a single statement: "The BCCI and Vivo Mobile India Pvt Ltd. have decided to suspend their partnership for Indian Premier League in 2020."  In 2021 though, the partnership has renewed, with Vivo coming in again as the title sponsor for IPL. In 2017, the Chinese mobile maker had shelled out approimately USD 341 million for title sponsorship rights for IPL from 2017-2022.

Each franchise of IPL earns upto USD 2.7 million (Rs 20 Crore approximately) per year from this agreement.