Former Australia captain Steve Smith emerged as the first big purchase of the IPL 2021 auction, getting purchased by Delhi Capitals for ₹2.2 crore. The bid for Smith, whose base price was ₹2 crore, was started by Royal Challengers Bangalore, and for a while was the only franchise to show interest in the Australia batsman.
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However, just when the possibility of Smith and Virat Kohli playing together in the IPL looked promising, in came Delhi Capitals with another bid, which turned out to be decisive in brining Smith to Capitals. This means that Smith will play for his fourth IPL franchise having represented Rajasthan Royals, and the now defunct Rising Pune Supergiant and Pune Warrior.
Smith was one of the eight players released by Royals after a forgettable IPL 2020 campaign. Captaining the side, under Smith, the team finished last on the points table with the batsman scoring 311 runs from 14 matches with three half-centuries. Smith has played 95 matches in the IPL so far, scoring over 2300 runs at an average of 35.35. He has scored 11 fifties to go with a century.