IPL 2021 Auction: Twitter erupts as Kyle Jamieson bags maiden contract for huge INR 15 crore

Kyle Jamieson has become the most expensive New Zealand player in the history of IPL after Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) secured his services for a whopping price of Rs 15 crore.  The lanky pacer was widely seen as one of the players to watch for in the auction and as expected, he caused a bidding war in the auction room.

Jamieson announced his arrival at the highest stage of the game last year when he made impressive ODI and Test debuts against India. Standing at 6’8″, Jamieson proved too hot to handle for India as the Black Caps whitewashed the visitors in both the series. The series helped him caught the eyes of the cricketing world and he has gone from strength to strength since then.

While he can bounce out batsmen with his towering frame, he also has the ability to pitch the ball up and swing it both ways. Jamieson is also a handy lower-order batsman and has already a Test fifty to his name. Former India and Kolkata Knight Riders star Gautam Gambhir is so impressed with Jamieson that he had compared him with the dangerous Andre Russell on the eve of the auction.

“Kyle Jamieson is not a big name at the moment, but he will turn out to be a superstar. This is probably the right auction for all franchises to get a hold of him. And because he is someone whom you can keep for a longer period of time. He is seven feet, he is that tall. He can bowl 140 and can hit the ball long. He probably could be the next Andre Russell in the making,” Gambhir had said on Star Sports.

RCB get their man in form of Kyle Jamieson

Jamieson holds the record for the fifth-best figures in the shortest format of the game thanks to his figures of 6 for 7 for Canterbury Kings against Auckland Aces in January 2019. Overall, he has 54 wickets in 38 T20s at an average of 20.59 and economy rate of 7.98.

And perhaps this is why RCB went all out for the Kiwi star who had registered himself at a base price of Rs 75 lakh. RCB and Delhi Capitals started the bidding before Punjab Kings entered the bid with Rs. 7.75 Crore. RCB were adamant to get their man and fought till the last for him with Punjab before securing his services for Rs.15 Crore.

Here are some of the reactions to Kyle Jamieson’s maiden IPL contract: