Price paid for Morris this IPL would seem out of whack

Chris Morris was bought by Rajasthan Royals for a record-smashing `16.25 crore in the IPL’s ‘mini’ auction last week. According to Kumar Sangakarra, cricket director of the franchise, Morris was seen of great and valuable support to spearhead Joffra Archer.

Those with longer memories might remember that Archer was purchased by Rajasthan Royals in 2018 for `7.20 crore. Even allowing for inflation, the price paid for South African allrounder Morris this time would seem out of whack. Imagine a support actor getting paid more than the lead star in a movie?

So, what exactly are the benchmarks for pricing players?

There are none. The IPL auction has its own logic, often at variance with linear logic. And yet, it is not entirely bereft of method and built only around madness, as some bewildered commentators have proclaimed last week.

In mini auctions particularly, franchises are looking to augment strength by plugging gaps, building buffers, adding a sharper edge to the squad — that something extra that could take the team’s performances higher and further. This can skew the bidding pattern dramatically.

Morris’s selection is instructive in this respect. On the face of it, he was a run of the mill player among the 292 who went under the hammer last Thursday.

This was also reflected in his base price of `75 lakh, way below what most star international players command.

This is because his credentials at the international level were hardly stellar: 4 Tests matches (debut 2016), 42 ODIs (debut 2013) and 23 T20is (debut 2012). His last Test came in 2017, last ODI in the 2019 World Cup and last T20i a few months earlier the same year.

A highest Test score of 69, 62 in ODIs, 55 not out in T20is is nothing to gush over. The tally of wickets is 12 in Tests (36.25), 48 in ODIs (average 36.58), again very modest. It gets somewhat better in T20is (34 wickets at 20.50), but not earth shattering.

Unspectacular performances, compounded by politics of SA cricket marginalized Morris’s appearances for his country.

However, take his displays in T20 cricket generally, which means largely in professional leagues across the world, and Morris becomes an altogether different player.

In 219 matches, he’s scored 1,785 runs. The average is modest, 21.25, but the strike rate of 151.78 is fantastic. In bowling, he has 275 wickets in 219 matches. The cost per wicket is low (22.05), the economy (7.74) and strike rates (17.00) impressive.

He can bowl at the start and at the death, and can hit the ball hard and long. Both these facets taken together make Morris a valuable commodity in this format.

Other multi-tasking international players who bagged huge purses are Glen Maxwell (14.25 crore), Kyle Jamieson (15 crore), Moeen Ali (7 crore), Sakib Al Hasan (3.5 crore).

Among uncapped India players, big gainers Krishnappa Gowtham (9.25 crore), Shahrukh Khan (5.25 crore) and Shivam Dube (4.20 crore) were those both bat and bowl. The clamour from franchises last week was largely for all-rounders and to some extent for in-form pace bowlers.

So Jhye Richardson and Meredith got handsome bids from Punjab for instance, but Aaron Finch and Shaun Marsh, were overlooked.

Steve Smith didn’t go unsold but got only `20 lakh more from his base price of `2 crore — a mighty fall from what he was earning earlier.

Whether Morris is worth `16.25 crore is a question that will be asked through the season I suspect. Sangakara admitted later that they could have got him for much less if there hadn’t been a three-way bidding war. By the time this war ended, Morris was laughing all the way to the bank.

Every auction throws up unexpected buys (remember Pawan Negi getting `8.5 crore from Delhi Daredevils a few seasons back?) though it is usually big stars — outside of ‘icon’ players like Dhoni, Kohli, Rohit, Tendulkar — who command most attention and money. Players like Kevin Pietersen, Yuvraj Singh, Pat Cummins for instance.

But getting a mega deal, while newsworthy, does not guarantee success. The three players mentioned in the preceding para — and Maxwell over several years for different franchises — could not justify the hype or the price. Can Morris, thrust into the limelight unexpectedly, break the jinx?