IPL auction: Teams will try to justify substantial spends now
the general election next year whose schedule could force the IPL to shift overseas, a last resort option that undermines the commercial appeal of the league.
Besides dates, there are other challenges for the IPL. The BCCI is in administrative free fall having lost control and IPL’S Governing Council is dysfunctional. Just when stable leadership was required, there is what experts describe as a huge gap between bat and ball.
STRATEGIC GAME
While administrators grapple for control, IPL team owners are ready for the auction with precise planning. All auctions have dynamics that can’t be conquered but teams have crunched numbers and carefully mapped players’ skills/technique/temperament/attitude and intent. Gone are the days of intuitive bids and indiscriminate binge buying. Each purchase now must satisfy a specific team need.
Price, it is learnt, does not guarantee performance and splurging on a player can be counterproductive from a cricketing and commercial standpoint. Last auction’s big buys (Ben Stokes, Glenn Maxwell, Jaydev Unadkat) hardly justified their investment.
Given this empirical data, teams are reluctant to spend crores on Yuvraj, Manish Pandey or Pawan Negi. It is understood that the cost-benefit analysis beyond a certain price point is negative, and the high price tag itself becomes a burden. Cricketers who talked about scoreboard pressure now also mention ‘contract value tension’ citing Tymal Mills, someone crushed by the weight of his salary cheque.
CHOICEST ONES
Genuine talent of course stands to be rewarded. All-rounders (Andre Russell, Shane Watson, Jadeja and the Pandya brothers) death over experts (Joffra Archer, Andrew Tye, Bhuvi, Bumrah) and finishers (Dinesh Karthik, Raina, Pollard) come at a steep cost.
When slow bowlers had apparently been smashed out of this format, ‘mystery’ spinners and leggies (Rashid Khan, Mujib, Kuldeep, Chahal, Sandeep Lamichhane, Markande) made significant contributions.
This auction will throw up strange numbers, as auctions always do. Sam Curran, Jonny Bairstow, Hetmyer, Ahmad Shahzad could trigger bidding wars but players must pass two basic tests: availability (World Cup dates a key) and ability (key skills: tackling slow bowlers on slow pitches).
As the game gets speedier, the underlying thread in this auction is to build a squad around young Indian talent — and what better example than under-19 pacer Kamlesh Nagarkoti.
Bought last year for ~ 3 crores by KKR he missed the IPL because of injury. Hasn’t played any cricket this season but still retained.
No such dream exam for 1000 others!