Sold, Unsold - IPL Cricket Auction Creates History in Bangalore

By Denzil Fernandes
Daijiworld Media Network - Mangalore

Mangalore, Jan 12: Indian cricket is in good health. This was amply demonstrated when some of the world’s leading cricketers were seen scrambling to catch the attention of the franchise owners to play in the 4th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) which will be played from April 8 to May 22.

Show girls, music and dancing, riots of colour and fan parades unseen earlier in an Indian cricket stadium have now become a part and parcel of the IPL circus that is acknowledged by international sports bodies as second in salaries next only to America’s National Basketball Association’s (NBA) League. Even before the two new franchises (Team Kochi and Sahara Pune Warriors) in the 4th edition entered, the IPL brand was valued a little over $4 billion at least. The participating players have overgrown with their wallets bulging from end to end and the hitherto thin skinned flannel boys have changed their costumes to perform colourfully on floodlit grounds to earn a living that is envied by the onlooker.

The game has taken a wild and welcome change and the slam bang cricket is the ‘in’ thing of cricket today. Coupled with commercialism, the cricket administrators have gone out of their way to ensure that the best is laid out to everyone including the advertisers, spectators, players, et al. At the end of it all, everyone connected with the game has prospered.

The truth was there to be believed when the 10 franchises of the 4th edition of the IPL battled it out at the ITC Gardenia hotel in Bengaluru on Saturday and Sunday (Jan.8 & 9) to pick players whom they believed would bring them the title and the tempting prize money on offer. Apart from the 8 franchises of earlier years like Chennai Superkings, Royal Challengers Bangalore, Kings XI Punjab, Rajasthan Royals, Deccan Changers, Mumbai Indians, Kolkata Knightriders and Delhi Daredevils, there were 2 new entrants in Sahara Pune Warriors and Team Kochi completing the 10 team format for the next two years of the competition. IPL Season 4 is going to have 10 teams, 74 matches and 45 days of action.

The initial 8 franchises had the privilege of retaining some of their match winning stars before the 2 day bidding began. Quite rightly, Chennai Superkings retained their skipper M.S.Dhoni, Murli Vijay, Suresh Raina and Albie Morkel, Mumbai Indians kept their leader Sachin Tendulkar, Lasit Malinga, Keiron Pollard and Harbhajan Singh, Royal Challengers Bangalore retained Virhat Kohli, Rajasthan Royals Shane Warne and Shane Watson while Virender Sehwag was retained by Delhi Daredevils.

The eventful bidding began with a bang when hot Indian opener Gautam Gambhir, was bought for a record USD 2.4 million (Rs 11.04 crore) on the first day of the player auction for IPL 4 by Kolkata Knightriders. Things went into a boil as various owners fought to possess some of the finest in the T20 business. But the Kolkata owners did not sit back and went further when they captured the big hitting Yusuf Pathan again for a mammoth Rs 9.7 crores despite stiff opposition. Elsewhere, his brother Irfan managed to get a Rs 8.7 crore unbelievable bid from Delhi Daredevils despite Irfan being off cricket for so many months.

Several stars fetched good returns when they were picked by new teams and in the process had a big pay day. To give a few examples, T Dilshan (Delhi Daredevils last year) was snatched by Vijay Mallya’s Royal Challengers Bangalore, Yusuf Pathan (Rajasthan Royals) went to Kolkatta Knightriders, Mahela Jaywardene went from Kings XI Punjab to new entrants Team Kochi, top scorer Yuvraj Singh went from Kings XI Punjab to new team Sahara Pune Warriors and so on and so forth. Promising batsman Rohit Sharma went back to his home base in Mumbai to join the Mumbai Indians from Deccan Chargers, Balaji went as far as Kolkatta from his home base in Chennai where had assisted Chennai Superkings earlier. All these players fetched far more than their base price.

So many players from the earlier IPL teams crossed over to other teams which provided for very interesting cases. Australia’s Adam Gilchrist of Deccan Chargers who guided the forturnes of the Deccan team in great fashion earlier was picked by Preity Zinta’s Punjab XI while former India captain Rahul Dravid almost went unsold before being picked by Punjab XI in a very late and lucky bid for the Bangalore player. Very interestingly, the Royal Challengers Bangalore were pretty silent when Dravid’s name came up for the bid. Little known Australian all-rounder Daniel Christian was bought for an astounding $900,000 by the Deccan Chargers. The 27 year all rounder from New South Wales is expected to play a big part in the fortunes of Deccan Chargers.

The new teams, Sahara Pune Warriors and Team Kochi seemed to have done well in picking promising players with an eye for the future. Pune got match winning Yuvraj Singh and Robin Uthappa while Kochi found Mahela Jayawardene, Mutthiah Murlidharan and home boy Sreesanth to lead the charge.

Bitter rivals on the international test scene in the past, Harbhajan Singh and Andrew Symonds found themselves on the same side for Mumbai Indians in an interesting bid. Symonds played for Deccan Chargers in the first editions of the IPL and was a part of the team that won the title in 2009 while Bhajji has been playing for the Mumbai Indians since 2008 where Sachin Tendulkar is the captain. Both are match winning players and Ambani’s team will be a top notch contender for this year’s title. Everyone knows the famous spat between Harbhajan and Symonds in the past when India and Australia played.

However, there were a few surprises when stars of the past went away unsold with no teams interested in them. Despite their huge achievements of the past, stars like former India captain Sourav Ganguly, former West Indies captains Brian Lara and Chris Gayle, former Sri Lanka star Sanath Jayasuriya and so many others remained ‘UNSOLD’ even at the end of the second day. Former Indian cricketer Mohammed Kaif who also was unsold on the first day was lucky to be picked by Bangalore’s Royal Challengers on the second day which will keep him playing cricket at least for the next two seasons. Probably sensing such an ‘UNSOLD’ predicament, former Indian spinner and captain Anil Kumble very smartly withdrew from the auction just in time citing business commitments and joined the ranks of Royal Challengers Bangalore in their think thank team.

There were so many prominent international cricketers including those from the current Ashes winning England team who were not wanted by any of the franchises. Sanath Jayasuriya, Tamim Iqbal, Chamara Kapugedera, Ajantha Mendis, Graeme Swann, James Anderson, Dilhara Fernando, Jaffer, Luke Wright, Matt Prior, Mark Boucher, Graeme Manou, Brian Lara, Herschelle Gibbs, Jesse Ryder, Oram, Bopara, Sourav Ganguly and Chris Gayle all being sidelined by the franchise owners. The franchise owners clearly showed that there was no place for sentiments, past heroics and performances.

Another notable feature was the presence of at least 7 Australian coaches taking charge of teams from the 10 team group . Former greats like Geoff Lawson (Team Kochi), Geoff Marsh (Sahara Pune Warriors), Darren Lehmann (Deccan Chargers), Shane Warne (Rajasthan Royals), Michael Bevan (King’s XI Punjab), Greg Shipperd (Delhi Daredevils) and Dave Whatmore (Kolkatta Knightriders) will be required to script their team’s performances. Other coaches are Stephen Fleming (Chennai Superkings), Pat Jennings (Royal Challengers Bangalore), and T.A.Sekhar (Mumbai Indians).

The plus point of the auction was the enormous opportunity for India’s numerous youngsters to brush shoulders with seasoned international cricketers. As per the rules of the IPL only 4 foreign players are allowed to play in the first XI which gives a huge chance for the Indian cricketers to prove their mettle. The IPL has turned out to be a grooming ground for most of India’s promising stars and one has seen so many rise to the top. Ravindra Jadeja, Pankaj Singh, Chetaswara Pujara, Tiwary, Nayar, Goni, Shikar Dhawan, Jakati, Ojha, Joginder and so many like them have all smelt success by watching and playing alongside senior professionals from all over the country. Needless to say, the future looks astonishingly great for Indian cricket for a long long time to come.

The franchise owners, striding in their past glory and success represent today’s modern India without doubt. The beautiful looking Preity Zinta owns the Kings XI Punjab along with Ness Wadia who is an industrialist himself. Likewise, the famous Shilpa Shetty (Rajasthan Royals) is a bollywood heartthrob and needs no introduction. Royal Challengers Bangalore owner Vijay Mallya is as colourful as ever having tasted success with his liquor and airline business. King of Bollywood, Shah Rukh Khan has tried to guide the Kolkatta Knightriders although success is yet to come.

Chennai Superkings owner Srinivasan is another industrialist owning India Cements with plenty of other business interests.  Mumbai Indians owner Nita Ambani is fitting right into the slot with backing from her famous husband Mukesh Ambani. Gayatri Reddy from the Deccan Chronicle group is the quiet but powerful owner of the Deccan Chargers who hopes to win again. The owner of Sahara Pune Warriors, Sarkar is a big time industrialist from the Sahara Group who also sponsors the Indian cricket team. Team Kochi is a combination of rich businessman interested in cricket. GMR infrastructure owns the Delhi Daredevils primarily.

As one gets set for the explosive action in the IPL 4 edition you simply cannot forget the former Commissioner of IPL Lalit Modi who started it all in great style and fashion. Without doubt, Lalit Modi will be watching all the action from his hide out somewhere in London as the action in the auction unfolds. He is reported to have expressed his happiness in the quality of the players at the IPL 4 edition. Modi is a thing of the past now and as the new contest begins one hopes that the success story of IPL continues to grow.

At the moment though, Modi is a spectator for all purposes and unless and until he gets his name cleared for his alleged misdeeds from the earlier IPL dealings there will be no further place for him. In any case, the cricket action continues unstopped and sooner than later every cricket lover all over the world will be glued to his seat as the action from IPL4 unfolds.