Phew. End of eventful two days of the Great Indian Tamasha or IPL auction. The biggest auction in last few years, maybe the biggest ever and some of the frenzy that ensued would put bourses to shame. Think about the trading the money that changed hands, for the naivetes, it may seem like teams were playing with fake money or playing a game of monopoly.
IPL had its expansion, and two new teams walked the ramp for the first time increasing the number of teams to 10 and that meant demand increased for players and ones who can put more seats in the stadium, two teams meant additional 44-46 players who would have an opportunity for a payday and that many families to revel in the riches that their child would introduce them to. Fresh owners and support staff wanting to impress one and all with their scouting and their ability to spot and attract talent to the relatively smaller cities of Ahmedabad and Lucknow, two states which have the best support from the ruling Government. Ahmedabad is the home state of India’s PM and Home Minister and UP is India’s largest state.
The best available names mostly from India and the biggest draws for Indian (and world if you add Rashid Khan and Marcus Stoinis) were held back from showtime as they were retained by their respective teams or were brought over for the new teams. This didn’t dampen anyone’s spirits and the teams stepped into the shopping market armed with their wallets. Most of the teams are owned by Billionaires or Superstars (in KKR) and their heirs showed up to the party with their piggy banks wanting to make a splash. Mumbai brought out the mom-son duo of Nita and Akash and KKR brought out the kids of SRK and Juhi Chawla and SRH, DC, LSG and PBKS had their own rich kids armed with their shopping list and were marveling at this exclusive auction where some of the biggest global names were the commodities and they had the opportunity to make them their own.
IPL as always has number of stories and substories which make you realize that it is all business at the end of the day and the rivalries and previous encounters of uglier sorts must be left behind if you want to be in this business. Years back, MI had brought Harbhajan Singh and Andrew Symonds who were on the polar sides of the battle that almost ruined the relationship between India and Australia and those two had made the right music and let the bygones be bygones sharing their fraternal poses in MI blue. This auction has brought out many more – Krunal Pandya who allegedly had hurled abuses at Deepak Hooda to an extent that latter even migrated and let his talent on display in the neighboring Rajasthan. Ravi Ashwin who had once famously Mankaded Jos Buttler and cricket’s ethical pundits had their field day talking about it are now part of the same team and guess what, if Ashwin decides to Mankadate another player, his accomplice in appealing would be the man on the opposite sides of the stumps albeit wearing the same pink of RR – Jos Buttler.
The biggest story which I have always marveled over is how the next generations of Ambanis and Wadias are now indulging in the battle of the paddle at the auction as compared to their original rivalry at the mill owners and Nusli Wadia father of Ness Wadia who had once accused Dhirubhai Ambani grandfather of Akash Ambani in paying off someone to bump off Nusli Wadia from the planet. Cricket has prevailed and business has too as these gentlemen have decided to forgo their differences for their team’s jerseys or for love of Mahatma Gandhi’s picture that is adorned on every crisp bill that will be added to their wallet. Whatever the reason maybe the fans get to watch some of the storylines that could just have been thought of and now it can become reality. One can hope to see Krunal Pandya and Deepak Hooda partnership in action or as I said earlier, Buttler and Ashwin tandem running someone out and everything is hunky dory.
Now for the initial analysis of the splurging that followed. Let’s kick it off with the two new teams. Lucknow owner Mr. Goenka showed he has been there before and was an owner for couple of years for Pune team and his experience showed when he made Gautam Gambhir (only IPL captain with multiple trophies not named MS Dhoni and Rohit Sharma) as the team’s mentor and Gujarat Titans the newbies brought in Ashish Nehra as the coach (this is not a comedy blog, and I am not being funny). They even had the great Gary Kirsten in their ranks and think tanks, but his input seemed very limited if you believe the adage that cameras don’t lie. Gujarat Titans almost took the cricket’s guidelines seriously that you can have eleven fielders and wicketkeeper is not a requirement but finally made up for it by going after couple of old warhorses.
Delhi Capitals seemed to have made some good buys and have added some local bowling options to their repertoire. They lost couple of their aces though. Mumbai Indians started very slow and spent more than half of their purse on two crown jewels – Ishan Kishan who they bought him back and gave him the fattest pay packet of this year’s auction but then Ishan is 23 and can show his pyrotechnics on either side of the stumps. Same way for Joffra Archer making it for an A/B punch in 2023 onwards when you have Archer and Bumrah both bowling in tandem, the glory days of Malinga and Bumrah are back. Yes, their fixation with these two cost them some middle order depth but their core is as solid as ever, they should have still gone after a spinner but that is a different day discussion. Punjab Kings and Sun Risers recovered well as the auction went on and likewise, Rajasthan Royals normally the thriftiest one during auctions did enter the bidding and at times, this turned I to battle royale with three teams named Royals or Kings went at each other.
IPL has long been the gold standard of franchise cricket and despite every country offering their own flavor, it is this desi tadka that is unrivaled and continues to stay as the mother of all. Leagues such as PSL have attracted talent of late and this has been a resurgence of sorts with Pakistan starting to host cricket matches after almost a decade. Englishmen have adorned the PSL and were almost getting conspicuously left out of earlier auctions barring a few but this year, big names such as Jason Roy, Liam Livingstone have joined the fray with the usual suspects Eoin Morgan, Moeen Ali, Sam Curran and Barbadian twins Chris Jordan and Joffra Archer. On the topic of Barbadians, West Indians continue to make merry in IPL and return richer to the islands. West Indians were so obliging that even allowed BCCI to improve their record in their 1000th ODI by playing a series and let Indians make merry by forgetting their misery at the hands of SA. Kind of you scratch my back and I will scratch yours.
Quality of cricket in IPL has always been high as the Indian artisanship is only on display here else rest of the leagues are bereft of hosting the super pool of Indian cricketers and thus the global audience is deprived of Indians ply their trade.
IPL auction was already on calendar and turned out to be a rather sad week for emotionally drenched Indians who lost two of their legends to the bookended beginning and end of the week. Indians started the week losing their voice the nightingale Lata Mangeshkar who had been in every household for almost seven decades and the week ended with another legend succumbing in Rahul Bajaj who enthralled the Indian middle class and gave them their biggest gift in Bajaj Chetak and the one who partnered with the brand manager to bring middle-class Indians their ride and was aptly named after the horse which had won accolades for being the most reliable ride for his master. This auction served as the soothe for the Indians grappling with grief. These two legends had been epitome in success and their achievements were always awe inspiring. However, much of the IPL has had a balming effect on people confined to their homes due to COVID.
Concluding, IPL auction also displayed that IPL is now an ecosystem and there are number of career opportunities for cricket crazy people who can carve out a career in analytics, sports management etc. and this just increases the gamut of options for the next generation and even for retired cricketers. Not everyone needs to suit up to play the game, but the ecosystem is strong and growing and if the two new teams are any indication, growing by leaps and bounds. Indian middle class continues to be the largest pie that any marketeer would like to get, and the league cricket is on cusp of making debut in the only market that can bring in more moolah to the coffers and that is United States where league is debuting 2023.
