Jhye Richardson, the 24-year-old Australian pacer, is set for his Punjab Kings and IPL debut on Monday. KL Rahul-led Punjab will face Sanju Samson’s Rajasthan Royals in the 4th match of IPL 2021 at Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium.
Eyes will be on Richardson, who is famous for his lethal pace and now also his Rs 14 crore price tag which he got from Punjab Kings at the mini-auction held in February.
In an exclusive interview with Sports Today, Richardson has talked about the moment when he became 14th edition’s fourth-costliest buy. The right-arm quick has said that the price tag was scary as well as life-changing for him.
He added that he was not going to worry about the money invested in him as his sole focus will be on showcasing his skill in front of India.
“It’s quite scary. It did not hit me straight away. I was actually watching the auction in New Zealand, it was quite late at night. It probably did not hit me straight away. It’s a funny one because you know that it’s gonna change your life. It’s life-changing. I was overwhelmed by the fact that this is going to change my life. For me, it wasn’t a jump up and down and get really excited moment, it just did not hit me straight away and even now it’s hard to comprehend how much it is and how much it’s gonna influence my future.
“That’s what we look as a cricketer, we have a front end earning capacity and you know our career might live 5 or 10 years but to have something like this and have financial security post cricket is the biggest relief for me. Obviously the added pressure and the expectation, all the challenges we expect in cricket anyway. For me now it’s not to worry about the price tag, it to worry about my own execution and my won skills and show all of India what I am capable of.
