Veteran India wicketkeeper-batter Dinesh Karthik opened up on the ugly trends that players and their agents use to fetch hefty deals in the Indian Premier League (IPL) mini-auctions.

Several Indian and overseas cricketers triggered bidding wars at the IPL 2024 mini-auction, held at the Coca-Cola Arena in Dubai on Tuesday (December 19).

However, it was the Australian duo of Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins, who took the cricketing world by storm with their whopping price tags. Both the players breached the Rs 20 Crore mark for the first time in the IPL auction history.

While Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) shelled out a staggering Rs 24.75 Crore to secure the services of Starc, Sunrisers Hyderabad roped in Cummins for a huge sum of Rs 20.50 Crore.

Speaking on Cricbuzz, Karthik pointed out that players and agents skip the main auction and use the mini-auction to boost up their value.

“I think players and agents are using this as a tactic where instead of coming to the main auction, which happens every three years, they let that pass and come in the mini auction that happens the year after and in that because of the holes available, they go for some crazy pricing and I think this unhealthy trend should stop now,” Karthik said.

Dinesh Karthik also offered a couple of solutions to tackle this issue. “I have two solutions. Anybody coming in the mini auction after they've been released from major auction can only go to the ceiling of the price that they have been bought in the major auction so that there is no I think bad blood among the players who have done well and have been retained in that team. Most of the players have been released into the mini auction have come through because probably they haven't had a great year,” he stated.

“The second one in case a player hasn't been part of the major auction and comes through to the mini auction, I think he can only go up to the point of the highest paid player in that team. Whatever money he is bid for beyond that should be given back to the BCCI, a feeling that will probably ensure sanity to some point. It is still a tad bit unfair, but I think that is the best way to go because I see a lot of foreign players actually using that as a loophole,” Karthik added.

After fine-tuning their squads, all 10 franchises are now set for the 2024 edition of IPL, likely to be played between March 22 and end of May.