Crazy IPL Auctions!

Hi Guys,

It feels good to sit and write a new post after a long time. I have lot of things in my mind and can’t decide what to write. Finally after some research, I decided to write on the crazy IPL auctions that concluded today.

The common views going around is that many players are unworthy for the huge amount they were bought. Recently as the Indian innings of India vs South Africa T20 concluded, I got a message in my phone viewing the same.

Let’s see the players who have grossed huge amounts and analyze their previous performances

Gautam Gambhir - $2.4 mn – The most bid player of the auction. A good opener, but the question is whether he is worth the money. He is a good opener, quite attacking, average fielder and captain. Also, note that Delhi was not much interested in retaining him. But seeing the next best bids, it seemed to me Gambhir deserved this.

Gambhir and Rohit striked gold in the auctions!

Yusuf Pathan - $2.1 mn – The next costliest player. He is match winner. But the problem is he strikes form only once in 10 matches. For example, last time he didn’t have a great IPL after the 37 ball 100 against Mumbai. He is a good bowler. He seems to be hyped so much. He got out for 6 of 8 balls in the T20 today.

Both these players were bought by Kolkata. Something tells me, SRK is again making a mistake.

Robin Uthappa - $2.1 mn – This was the most shocking one. Uthappa is a good T20 player. He can be a wicket keeper too. But, note that there are far too better players and it has been long since he was there in the 15 member squad of Indian team. Whatever Pune thought, Uthappa has got a jackpot.

Rohit Sharma - $2 mn - The next big one. I thought comparing with others he quiet deserves this price. He is also lucky to play for his home team along with his hero Sachin. He has a great time in the previous IPLs (quite shocking that Deccan didn’t try to retain him and Gilchrist). Rohit again proved his worth in the match today, 53 of 34 balls.

Irfan Pathan - $1.9 mn – Much like Uthappa, Irfan also lost form and it has been long since he has been considered for the Indian team. He was not a big performer in the last IPL too. The only thing that might have gone his way was his previous records and the all-rounder tag. Delhi roped him, but the comedy is what followed. Preity Zinta says he her most favorite player in the Punjab team. Then why didn’t they try and retain him?



Pathan brothers have got much more than what they deserve for their current form!



Yuvraj Singh - $1.8 mn – After seeing the prices above, I feel pity for him. He is the best T20 batsman available today, except that he is not in form at the moment. How can one forget his majestic shots, when they remember Irfan’s. One difference is that Irfan isn’t playing and Yuvraj is playing. Anyway $1.8 mn isn’t that bad and I think Pune is lucky.

Saurabh Tiwary - $1.6 mn – He was the best young achiever of IPL3. He played superbly for Mumbai. But except that one series we didn’t see him. Based on that, I think he is hyped so much. Let’s hope this money doesn’t spoil the young Jharkand captain.

The top 6 players are Indians, but the next 9 players were foreigners. To me it appeared everyone were worthy for the money they were given, except for Dale Steyn. He is a good bowler for test matches. But is he a good T20 bowler that too in Indian pitches? Has Deccan chosen wisely? Chennai must have retained Muralidaran, he wished to be in Chennai and they should have preferred him for Vijay. It’s too late and Kochi has grabbed him for $1.1 mn.

The other shocks were Sreesanth - $0.9 mn, Piyush Chawla - $0.9 mn (Is he better than Ojha and Aswin), Abhishek Nayar - $0.8 mn, Umesh Yadav - $0.75 mn (I don’t even know who he is), Ashish Nehra - $0.85 mn.

Sangakara was given only $0.7 mn by Deccan. OMG! He is one of the best T20 players and a good wicket keeper. Is Dinesh Karthik ($0.9 mn) better than him? Deccan has hit a jackpot. Daniel Vettori went for only $0.55 mn. Again he is one of the best spinners on earth. More than that, he is very economical. He deserved better. Ojha, who got the purple cap last time, goes only for $0.5 mn. What does this mean? Deccan Chargers again lucky. It seems Deccan have got all good players at a very low price. Seems, this is the reason why they saved more than $2 mn at the end.

Deccan Chargers got Juan Theron for only $85000. How did Punjab forget his bowling? One of the best T20 bowlers ever. Again Deccan strikes gold.

As far as CSK are concerned, they made good choice retaining Dhoni, Raina and Morkel. But was Vijay the right bet? I think they should have gone for Murali or Aswin. Losing Murali to Kochi seems to be a big loss. But they did well to retain Aswin, Bollinger (considering his fellow Aussie bowlers, Bollinger should be happy with the $0.7 mn), and Badrinath. The highest bid Chennai made was for Badrinath ($0.85 mn). I think this was a fabulous move. This means that, rather depending on a star player, they are depending equally on everyone. It was good to retain Michael Hussey. The first new player, Chennai roped in was Scott Styris, the kiwi all-rounder. They also got Ben Hilfenhaus and Dwayne Bravo. Chennai tried to retain the older players whether they were big or small (it’s clear from retaining George Bailey and Joginder Sharma). They want to retain the team spirit. Hope this works.

The thought that came to me was if the retained players chose not to remain in their teams they would have gone to great heights. Mainly Sachin, Dhoni, Raina, Pollard, Sehwag deserve much better than their current prices. I think the teams will have internal solutions.

These auctions have occupied most of my day today. I have been reading a lot about it. I have been discussing a lot of it with my dad, brother and friends. Finally everyone points the same: the teams have been illogical.

I think that all the big priced players are going to flop and the lower priced players are going to shine, as usual!

Let’s see how it goes in IPL4.

Happy Reading!!!