- BedTea.in | Ravi Matah's Blog - https://bedtea.in -

IPL – AUCTION

The Indian Premium League auction has shown that the franchises have opted for youth over experience while buying players for their respective teams.  Yes, the big guns of yester-years had no takers and the lesser known players have been bought for huge sums.

Gautam Gambhir is the highest paid at $2.4 million. Yusaf Pathan, Robin Uthappa, Rohit Sharma,  Saurabh Tewary and Yuvraj Singh have also seen an upward revision of their purse at the IPL door. As per IPL laws, only four foreign players are allowed in the playing eleven and the rest have to be Indians, as such the franchises need at least 70 Indian players who have an impact on Cricket. The franchises are, therefore, willing to shell out large sums of money to get the best out of the lot available.

Irfan Pathan, though side-lined earlier from India Test and ODI XI because of his inability to bowl consistently, has been bought for an exorbitant price of $1.9 million.

Some of the purchase of players in this auction defies logic. None of these players are match winners – Ravindra Jadeja, Munaf Patel, Piyoosh Chawla and L. Balaji, but still they have fetched amounts upwards of $500,000.

Saurav Ganguly has not been bought by KKR franchisers and Shah Rukh Khan has stated that he will like to include him in some ‘capacity’ in the KKR team. Ganguly will not be ready to accept any managerial responsibility and sit on the side-lines. He wants to control things. Remember what happened in the IPL earlier, the rotation of Captains issue? Ganguly doesn’t only want to play, but he wants to be at the helm of all affairs. And if KKR teams match is to be held at Eden Garden without Ganguly in the side, then God bless Shah Rukh. It would be a tough time for the organisers.

If Ganguly has been sidelined due to his age factor, then there are the likes of Shane Warne and Adam Gilchrist who have been bought. Further the franchisers have paid hefty sums for Kevin Piertersen, Stuart Broad, Muttaiah Murlitharan and missed out on Chris Gayle.

There is a severe heart-burn amongst the uncapped players. They are being paid 10 to 20 lakhs only for the IPL IV season which is pittance as compared to other players. Some of these players have proved their mettle in the earlier seasons. The franchisers will try to find some way out to satisfy the uncapped players – what is it called – honorarium or perks? BCCI has clearly spelt out that these perks are illegal.

The auction stage is now over and IPL will have to ensure that they improve their fan-base is improved as this tournament is still a baby and requires nurturing at all stages. No doubt IPL has gained popularity and the stadia will be packed during the matches and the viewership will be tremendous.

The IPL-IV is being held just after the World Cup in India, Bangla Desh and Sri Lanka, then, will be public remain glued to their TV sets for almost another  two months to watch the 70 plus matches as two new teams – Kochi and Pune Warriors – have also joined the league? Won’t that be over-indulgence in Cricket?

This will be the IPL Twenty20 tournament’s fourth season and its organisers are trying to improve its image, which has been tainted by allegations of corruption

IPL founder Lalit Modi was last year thrown out by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), the sport’s governing body, over claims of wrongdoing, which he denies.
 
It’s also going to be the biggest scene in IPL-4 when pals Andrew Symmonds and Harbhajan Singh walk arm-in-arm in Mumbai Indians’ colours. And on Saturday, last year’s IPL runners-up bought Australian all-rounder Andrew Symonds for $ 850,000 to share the dressing room with Harbhajan Singh.

Symonds and Harbhajan have been involved in on-field spats  and Sachin will have an extra job to handle both of them in his team.

Let the matches begin and let’s see the youth’s dominance over experience.

Ravi Matah.