The 30-year-old was bought for a whopping $3.67 million (20.5 crore) by Sunrisers Hyderabad during the auction in Dubai on Tuesday night.
Cummins smashed the all-time record, flying past young allrounder Cameron Green's $3.15 million price last year, which set the benchmark for an Australian player.
THE BIGGEST IPL BID EVER 😱— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) HISTORY CREATED here at the #IPLAuctionAustralia's World Cup winning captain Pat Cummins is SOLD to @SunRisers for a HISTORIC INR 20.5 Crore 💰💰💰💰#IPL pic.twitter.com/bpHJjfKwEDDecember 19, 2023
He will team up with World Cup hero Travis Head after the explosive left-hander was also snapped up by the Sunrisers for $1.22 million.
After sitting out this year's IPL because of a packed international schedule, Cummins threw himself back in the auction and was the focus of an intense bidding war.
IPL franchises were not afraid to go all-out to secure Cummins, who led Australia to an upset ODI World Cup final victory over India in Ahmedabad last month.
Cummins last played in the IPL for the Kolkata Knight Riders last year, but MS Dhoni's Chennai Super Kings and the Mumbai Indians first attempted to land the star quick.
Royal Challengers Bangalore, who Virat Kohli and Glenn Maxwell play for, also made a play for Cummins, but the Sunrisers upped their bid to a record level.
Cummins' massive payday overshadowed Head earning his way back to the IPL for the first time in six years.
Head has previously been part of two IPL franchises - Delhi in 2015 and the Royal Challengers during 2016 and 2017.
Star batter Steve Smith went unsold during the auction but has an extensive history in the IPL and is likely to eventually land somewhere as Australia prepare for next year's T20 World Cup in the United States and the Caribbean.
Australians Mitch Marsh, David Warner, Matthew Wade, Marcus Stoinis, Tim David, Jason Behrendorff, Nathan Ellis, Adam Zampa, Green and Maxwell were already retained by their franchises before the auction.
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