More bucks for bang
What to expect from the Indian Premier League auction as cricketing stars eye jackpot.
It’s nearly 10 years since Brendon McCullum’s knock of 158 at Chinnaswamy Stadium lit up the inaugural Indian Premier League like no fireworks display could.
Now the annual IPL auction is the biggest off-field event in the cricketing year as some of the top players can watch their price skyrocket into seven figures faster than a bidding duel on an Auckland house.
It can be baffling, in terms of who fetches the wildly inflated price and who misses out, but captivating at the same time.
Here’s our step by step guide to how it all works:
When and where does it all happen?
This year’s auction is bigger than past editions, in that every player is back in the mix except the 18 who were retained across the eight franchises before Christmas.
That’s a grand total of 578, including 218 overseas players and 24 New Zealanders, whittled down from an initial list of 1122 after expressions of interest were taken from each team.
A long haul is in store at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Bangalore, starting around 4.30pm (NZT) on
Saturday and stretching into Sunday.
How do players get involved?
The Black Caps and other offshore hopefuls require a No Objection Certificate from their home boards to put their names forward. Pakistani players are absent due to ongoing tension between the neighbouring countries.
Players set a reserve, which, for most of the New Zealand contingent is 50 lakh rupees (about
NZ$107,000). Last year Matt Henry and Lockie Ferguson sold for that price after attracting one bid, as did Martin Guptill who was passed in initially then sold at the secondchance auction.
McCullum and Corey Anderson set their reserve highest of the New Zealanders, at 2 crore rupees
(NZ$429,000), the same as 34 others including global stars Ben Stokes and Mitchell Starc who will be two of the most sought-after. The major players, most of whom are with their national sides, don’t attend the auction but follow it online from afar.
How does the auction work?
Owners, coaches (including Stephen Fleming of Chennai Super Kings and Daniel Vettori of Royal Challengers Bangalore), analysts, chief executives and others sit around tables and raise their paddle to bid for each player as the auctioneer rattles through. Yes, Chennai are back along with Rajasthan Royals after both were banned for two years due to some of their owners being charged with corruption. Nothing’s ever straightforward in the IPL and their replacement teams Pune and Gujarat are gone, their supporter shirts destined for bargain bins.
Each franchise has 80 crore
(NZ$17 million) to spend, minus the agreed value of their retained players. A maximum of eight overseas players are permitted in a squad of between 18 and 25.
With seven overseas players among the 18 retained - including Australian stars Steve Smith and David Warner, and South Africa’s AB de Villiers - it leaves 57 spots for foreigners which isn’t many. Especially considering the numbers: Australia have 58 hopefuls and South Africa 57, while West Indies and Sri Lanka
(39 apiece) also have large contingents.
The auction starts with two groups of eight marquee players, with Kane Williamson the only New Zealander.
Players are then auctioned in groups: batsmen, allrounders, fast bowlers and spinners. McCullum and Guptill are in the first batsman group, followed by Colin Munro and Colin de Grandhomme in the top allrounders’ group.
If players don’t attract a bid first time around, they can return later in the second-chance auction.
Who will go for the highest price?
A year ago Stokes was the story of the auction, attracting a record IPL price of 14.5 crore (NZ$3.09 million) to Rising Pune Supergiants after a spectacular bidding war.
The England star features in the first marquee group, with the only questionmark his potential availability for the entire tournament as he faces a charge of affray in the UK.
As always the Australians will be popular – Starc, Big Bash hitting sensation Chris Lynn and fast bowler Pat Cummins.
Six Indian stars feature in the marquee groups – Ravichandran Ashwin, Shikhar Dhawan, Ajinkya Rahane, Gautam Gambhir, Harbhajan Singh and Yuvraj Singh. All will be popular, with Yuvraj having fetched a thenrecord 14 crore (just under NZ$3m) in 2014. Megastars Virat Kohli (Bangalore) and MS Dhoni (Chennai) were among those retained.