Mitchell describes 'pretty special night' watching IPL auction
It may have only been 14 minutes, but last night's Indian Premier League auction has changed the lives of Black Cap Daryl Mitchell and his family.
Mitchell became an instant millionaire overnight after being picked up by defending champions Chennai Super Kings for 14 crore - approximately $2.7 million.
It was a tense quarter of an hour for the Mitchell's as, after a slow start, the Kings battled with other IPL clubs to earn the rights to his cricketing talents.
"Your heart starts to pump a little bit as you see the paddles going up," Mitchell said.
"Having been through the auction before and going unsold, it was a pretty special night last night to experience that and to now be part of the Chennai Super Kings is an exciting time ahead."
It's a big elevation on his last stint in the IPL, when he played just two games for Rajasthan in 2022 where his services were acquired for the base price of $144,000.
"It was obviously a pretty special night for us as a family, sitting here with my wife watching the whole auction," he added.
"To see your name come up and then to go through that whole experience is definitely something that will stick with us for the rest of our lives."
Mitchell said during in the build up to his name being called out he and his wife Amy tried to keep themselves busy by wrapping presents for his daughter Addison's fifth birthday, which is coincidentally today.
"She's got a pretty good present, waking up to that – not that she understands what's going on," he said.
"But that's the whole thing about these sorts of situations – it helps set up your family in many ways so that they can grow up and enjoy the things they love.
"For me, that's the really cool thing about it. They're the ones that are the reason why you do all this."
The big paycheck was the third largest on the night and makes him tied for second-most expensive Black Cap in IPL history, sitting level with Kane Williamson and only just behind Kyle Jamieson who went for 15 crore [approximately $2.9m] in 2021 with Royal Challengers Bangalore.
Mitchell will be surrounded by Kiwis at his new home in Chennai, playing with Devon Conway, Mitchell Santner and Rachin Ravindra – snapped up for $350,000 last night as well after his impressive World Cup campaign – while being coached by former Black Caps captain Stephen Fleming.
"[I'm] really excited to play under Fleming. He's obviously a great of the game in our country as a player and and now as a coach as well and and to learn off him, he's had a lot of success and I'm really looking forward to that experience.
"I grew up with with Mitch since we're about 12-years-old and now with Dev and Rachin in the team as well, it's going to be good fun."
The Chennai quartet make up half of the Kiwis that will feature in next year's IPL with Kane Williamson [Gujarat], Trent Boult [Rajasthan], Lockie Ferguson [Bangalore] and Glenn Phillips [Hyderabad] all signed as well.
The IPL starts in March.
