Chennai, Feb 18 (IANS): Delhi Capitals (DC) were lucky to get Australia batting mainstay Steve Smith for just Rs 2.2 crore and the franchise was willing to pay even more for him, said DC assistant coach Mohammed Kaif while speaking to the media on Thursday.
"We realised last year when Amit Mishra and Ishant Sharma got injured during the IPL that we need to keep back-up for international players," said Kaif.
"I thought we were lucky to have him so cheap. We were willing to pay even more for him," Kaif added.
Smith, who led Rajasthan Royals (RR) in the 2020 season, had an ordinary outing, aggregating just 311 runs in 14 matches at an average of 25.91. His strike rate was also only 131.22 and he could not muster big scores, scoring just three half-centuries with a highest score of 69.
The Rajasthan franchise finished at the bottom of the points table.
Not surprisingly, he was released by RR. Smith had entered the 2021 IPL auction with a base price of Rs 2 crore.
Ahead of the 2018 auction, Smith was the only player retained by Rajasthan Royals for Rs 12.5 crore.