IPL Auctions

I wanted to write about the mother of all auctions on the same weekend as it happened, but it just didn't happen. So here goes the IPL auctions in my point of view.

I have been an ardent follower and have been associated with the sport (It is by default that you are a cricket fan if you are born in India) for a long time. So when the new format of T20 came it was good but didn't take the world by storm. The ECB brought in this format to revive the drastically falling attendance for it county matches. It was taken up by ICC and as soon as the format became a great hit globally with the first edition of the ICC T20 world cup, the BCCI was shrewd enough to take the chocolate cake with a cherry on top by bringing the Indian Premier League without much difficulty as it could easily muscle out ICC and also had a ready made business framework.

Though there was a similar format in India called the Indian Cricket League(ICL), it didn't get the approval of ICC (which in itself is a debatable topic). The same format was taken up by BCCI and they just filled the missing blocks in ICL, namely the publicy it couldn't draw and the good will it couldn't achieve. 

The IPL was born and the first auction was the first of its kind in the world of cricket. Nobody knew how it worked, for that matter it is still unclear on how the system works. Thats always been the case with BCCI. It has never been transparent, which by the way has also been its strength.

After three years, two more teams were inducted and the auction was all set to happen after all the drama surrounding the two teams that were scrapped ( were again brought back into the IPL) and the famous IPL gate where the bhakra was Lalit Modi. The stage was set for the mother of all auctions to commence. The was already enough buzz. The tone of the auction was set right away in the first player to be auctioned. Gautam Gambhir would have been the happiest man on earth when his value rocketed from a meager base price of 200k to 2.4 mil in a matter of minutes.

The franchises this time had come really prepared. They didn't hold back for the player they wanted and never bothered to even consider a player who didn't feature in their plans even if he came for a really cheap price. The glaring evidence was in the way in which three franchises picked their teams. The Chennai Super Kings, the Kolkata Knight Riders and the Royal Challengers Bangalore.

Each  had a strategy cut out and each team stuck to what it wanted. The KKR wanted a new team as they were the most under performing team in the past 3 editions of IPL. To add to these they were dragged into controversy in the 3rd edition where a player allegedly gave away insider information in his blogs. They didn't want a single player from their previous squad even if it meant leaving out DADA. What more does a team require when it has Whatmore by its side.

The strategy of RCB was also clear. They wanted to shrug off their test team tag and went in for a young side. The CSK's strategy was simple. It wanted to retain as many players as it could from its double winning side.

The most intriguing part of the auction was how the franchises came into the bidding just to increase a players value and decrease the purse money of the bidding franchises. It was done rather well by CSK and RCB. Though the ultimate benefactors were the players. The lack of good Indian players in the pool made almost every capped Indian player in the auction rich by significant amount.

The two new comers were starting with a disadvantage as the other teams were allowed to retain players. The  potential at their disposal were few and they didn't have the experience. The case with RR and KP were different. The didn't have the money at their disposal as most of it was spent on legal fees.

Though there are strong teams and weak teams, cricket is a funny game and more so is a T20 game. Who thought that the Rajastan Royals would win the IPL. Though it may be clichéd, Anything is possible in cricket.