'Quite happy with the price'- Venky Mysore on acquiring Green
Kolkata Knight Riders, who broke the bank to snap Cameron Green at INR 25.20 crore, refused to disclose how far they would have gone in pursuit of the Australian all-rounder, but said the price correction by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) for overseas players in mini-auctions will have no impact for them. As per the BCCI rules, Green's IPL fee will be INR 18 crore despite attracting a higher bid.
"From our standpoint, I don't think there is any concern in that regard because this is an outflow for the franchise. The BCCI has made it with their wisdom on capping it at Rs 18 crores. So, we are okay with that. And I don't think it changes anything as far as the options are concerned," Venky Mysore said after the big buy.
The BCCI rule, formulated ahead of the mega auction last year, says, "Any Overseas player's auction fee at a small auction will be lower than the highest retention price of Rs 18 crore or the highest auction price at the big auction. In case the highest auction price at the big auction is Rs 20 crore then Rs 18 crore will be the cap. If the highest auction price at a big auction is Rs 16 crs then the cap will be Rs 16 crore." Since the highest auction price at the big auction was more than Rs 20 crore, Green will be paid INR 18 crore.
Knight Riders and Chennai Super Kings were involved in a bidding war which eventually was won by the former because of their higher purse. But the KKR CEO refused to disclose how far they would have gone for Green. "It's tough to say that. I think a lot of it would have depended on the rest of the plans and what's happening. But I think we will be getting close, is what I can tell you."
Mysore, however, was happy with the purchase. "This is something that we were really focused on and always hoping for. We were quite happy with the price that we got. You know, there was always a concern that had it gone higher then what we would have done. I think the fact is that we were very keen but not so attached. So, at some level if we felt that it would affect our auction, the rest of the auction, we would let it go. Fortunately that didn't happen. It came within the range.
"I think he adds a lot to our team and especially with our new power coach (Andre Russell) who is on board, I think it's a very nice thing to have a young one on the field. We know what he does at the international stage with the bat, with the ball, position in which he plays. So, we couldn't be happier with the new acquisition."
