That the Indian Premier League (IPL) is a self-contained world, with an internal logic all its own, was abundantly clear from Monday’s player auction. Unlike 2014, this wasn’t a year for overhauls. With the exception of Delhi Daredevils, which had Rs.39.75 crore to spare after releasing 13 players, most teams were looking to fix holes, not build from scratch. And yet — for all the talk of it being a muted affair, in the shadow of the World Cup, without the bombast of some of the earlier auctions — the event was evidence that the IPL marches to its own beat. Two of the best batsmen in the world — Sri Lanka’s Kumar Sangakkara, the maker of more than 27,000 international runs, and South Africa’s Hashim Amla, the quickest to 2000, 3000, 4000 and 5000 One-Day international runs — went unsold. New Zealand’s Kane Williamson, who cannot stop scoring at the moment, attracted a mere Rs.60 lakh. But K.C. Cariappa, an untested mystery spinner yet to play a first-class match, commanded Rs.2.40 crore. And Yuvraj Singh, not deemed good enough for a spot in the Indian team for the World Cup, fetched Rs.16 crore, becoming the biggest buy for the second year running.
The cases of Yuvraj and Cariappa offer an insight into both the dynamics of the auction and what the IPL has become. Daredevils saw the appeal of Yuvraj’s all-round skills; his form in the Ranji Trophy suggested he wasn’t a spent force. There was also a desire, as one team official put it, for “an iconic player who will also make us attractive to brands”. The unique mixture of commerce and cricket that Yuvraj still offered was compelling. And so Royal Challengers Bangalore, which had released Yuvraj to buy him back at a lower price, found itself in a bidding war. Once the price escalated, the team with the bigger purse — Daredevils — had the last word. But the Delhi franchise didn’t have its way when Cariappa’s name came up. For, Kolkata Knight Riders’s need for a spinner with the element of surprise was more pressing. With its star slow-bowler Sunil Narine under scrutiny after being reported for a ‘suspect action’ last September, the franchise, as CEO Venky Mysore said, was willing to “take a punt”. It was a revealing line: there is something of a gamble in most choices, a hope that the player eventually justifies the money. But this is not to say decisions are not well-considered. Rajasthan Royals has built a reputation for unearthing value nobody else divines and did just that while Chennai Super Kings, which has put its stock in continuity, recalled Michael Hussey. That both teams remain under a cloud in the outside world, but went about their business as usual in the auction, was merely more proof of the IPL’s success at creating an alternate reality.
