144 cricketers up for grabs

IPL auction today

It is that time of the year again. The razzmatazz that is called the IPL auction — where the best of the cricketing brains in the country, savvy businessmen and glamorous Bollywood actresses put their heads together to pick the best in the business — is almost here.

On Saturday, internationally-acclaimed auctioneer Richard Madley will put 144 players (136 foreign and 8 Indians) under the hammer as nine Indian Premier League franchises (one less than last year’s, after Kochi Tuskers Kerala were disbanded by the BCCI) dig into their pockets in what is expected to be a short auction. But before Madley begins the proceedings in the morning, the owners and the support staff will be working overnight to form their strategies.      

Saturday’s auction is way smaller than the one held last year, both in terms of money and the size of the player pool. Franchises shelled out over $64 million to form their teams from a pool of over 400 cricketers from across the world last year. After the IPL Board increased the number of foreign players for each squad from 10 to 11 from this year, the nine teams in the fray can pick up to 29 from abroad to fill in their vacant slots but, given the small amount of money to be spent by each team (which is not more than $2 million), it’s unlikely all those places will be filled.

In a field bereft of star value, Sri Lankan skipper Mahela Jayawardene is the sole top-notch player along with Kiwi Brendon McCullum, both part of the erstwhile KTK.
In fact, much of the sheen from this year’s auction may have been lost after Royal Challengers Bangalore successfully retained the destroyer called Chris Gayle.

In the absence of the West Indian, all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja appears to have emerged as the main contender to touch that magic figure of $2 million (by more than one team) and force the issue into a tie-breaker. If things indeed turn so, the Saurashtra player will become only the second player after Kieron Pollard of Mumbai Indians to be bought in such a fashion. In 2009, Mumbai, Chennai Super Kings and Royal Challengers Bangalore tied at $2 million — the auction limit — for Pollard, the Mukesh Ambani-owned franchise quoted the highest undisclosed amount in the tie-breaker to pocket the West Indian.