IPL Auction 2012 - deciphered !!!

Have you heard of Sunil Narine and would you expect he being hotly fought to be bought at $700000. (Rs.3.40 crore)  from a base price of $ 50000 (24 lakhs) – that is what IPL Auction is all about.  In some ways, it is easy for Richard Madley  - unlike many other auctions, he need not justify the base price or speak on the merit of what was on sale.  It is not the intrinsic value but the demand for the property on sale that determines the price in Auction. 

To outsider seeing it for the first time, IPL Auction is height of madness, but perhaps there is method in madness – when you study the rules and it is not only the player under the hammer, but the composition of the Team that the bidder is planning about that determines the relative value.  The rule is that a Team can have 11 players in the squad and only 4 of them can play in a match – the squad strength could be 33 – at any point of time there would be 7 Indian players in any match is one reason that makes Indian players most valued – still some are fancily overprized.

 

As the hammer fell, there is news of Rendezvous Sports World Pvt Ltd, one of the co-owners of the terminated Kochi Tuskers Kerala IPL franchise planning to go to court next week in a late bid to revive the team.  BCCI has already terminated and has put on sale a no. of  former Tuskers players in Saturday's player auction. Rendezvous had wanted to file a petition before the auction, in order to prevent their players from being sold to other franchises, but they were unable to get it done in time. This 2012 auction is not as big as the earlier one, this is partly necessitated by termination of Kochi Tuskers Kerala franchise.  Besides them, the  rest of the pool is made up of players who were undrafted last year and those who have decided to come forward this year.  In all there are 144 players from 11 countries in the auction.

There was the newly introduced IPL transfer window which enabled transfer and across club payment for 6 players.  Also Franchises have the first right of refusal for players signed as replacements. So Royal Challengers Bangalore were able to sign Chris Gayle to a new contract worth $550,000 before the auction. Had they not done so, he would have been in the auction. Other players who have signed in this way include Sourav Ganguly, who was retained by Pune Warriors for $400,000, and David Miller, who was retained by Kings XI Punjab.  In the present auction, each  team can spend up to $2 million at the auction. Pune Warriors re-signed Sourav Ganguly for $400,000, they will have $1.6 million to spend at the auction. When 2 teams bid the maximum for a player, there would a tie-breaker; the franchises that have submitted the maximum bid would then submit a blind cheque to the BCCI. The franchise that provides the biggest cheque gets to keep the player. The money, which is undisclosed, goes to the BCCI and does not count against the salary cap. 

If one’s memory of IPL I is grand there was a 37 run over – in the match between RCB and Kochi Tuskers – the 3^rd over of the match  Prasanth Parameswaran to  Chris Gayle.  First over point for 6; second a no ball – a slower one – over point for another 6; second again-  past midwicket for 4;  third between extra cover and cover for a 4; 4^th another 6; 5^th cleanly struck straight 91 meters for another 6 and the last an inside edge went for a 4.  Prasanth Parameswaran had taken the wicket of Virender  in his first IPL over.  With Kochi not playing, his chances sure have vanished !

This morning auction was in batches – Batsmen, All rounders, Pacers, Spinners etc., all capped players – a dignitary would pull a card from the bag and Madley would announce auction of that player when Franchisees would be eligible to bid.  They raise the stick and in tune with the base price the price keeps increasing.  There were many a times, when none of the teams responded, even when the player was good and the price was unimaginably low !  Everyone would go on record that they have a well thought-out plan and are bidding accordingly.  Still some names attracted none while some were keenly fought for fancy prices.  Vinay Kumar went for 1 million – 10 lakh dollar – Rs.4.6 crores and Sunil Narine went for $700000. (Rs.3.40 crore).  In Spinner’s category, whilst Sunil was hotly contested,  there were no takers for the wonder carom ball bowler Ajantha Mendis at base price $50,000  (23.43 lakhs !); nothing for Ranganna Herath and England's Graeme Swann with  base price of $400,000. No bids !!!  For Sunil Narine, KKR called $600,000; Mumbai raised after a pause, to 650,000. KKR bid 700,000. 

Here is the purchase list

Player	Team	Base Price		Bid
		in $	In Rs	In $	In Rs
Ravindra Jadeja	CSK	100000	4,896,000	2000000	97,920,000
Mahela Jayawardene	DD	300000	14,688,000	1400000	68,544,000
Vinay Kumar	RCB	100000	4,896,000	1000000	48,960,000
Brendon McCullum	KKR	400000	19,584,000	900000	44,064,000
Sunil Narine	KKR	50000	2,448,000	700000	34,272,000
Parthiv Patel	DC	200000	9,792,000	650000	31,824,000
Rudra Pratap Singh	MI	200000	9,792,000	600000	29,376,000
Brad Hodge	RR	200000	9,792,000	475000	23,256,000
Andre Russel	DD	50000	2,448,000	450000	22,032,000
Sreesanth	RR	400000	19,584,000	400000	19,584,000
Mitchell Johnson	MI	300000	14,688,000	300000	14,688,000
Mutttiah Muralitharan	RCB	200000	9,792,000	220000	10,771,200
Brad Hogg	RR	100000	4,896,000	180000	8,812,800
Ramesh Powar	KXIP	100000	4,896,000	160000	7,833,600
Robin Peterson	MI	100000	4,896,000	100000	4,896,000
Herschelle Gibbs	MI	50000	2,448,000	50000	2,448,000
Dinesh Chandimal	RR	50000	2,448,000	50000	2,448,000

In the morning, these players  were lucky to have their names picked but unlucky for there were no bids :-  James Anderson, Tamim Iqbal, Adrian Barath, Sarwan, Darren Bravo, Ian Bell, Owais Shah, Upul Taranga, VVS Laxman, Matt Prior, Brendan Taylor, Mark Boucher, Kemp, Marlon Samuels, Ravi Bopara, Doug Bracewell, Luke Wright, Kevin O Brien, Dwayne Smith, Tsotsobe, VRV Singh, Vernon Philander, Fidel Edwards, Ravi Rampaul, Peter Siddle, Tim Southee, Greame Swann, Rangana Herath, Ajantha Mendis, Xavier Doherty.  

Meantime, Sahara India Parivar have announced they are withdrawing their sponsorship of the Indian team and the IPL franchise, Pune Warriors. In its formal statement, Sahara said they would, "continue paying the sponsorship money" to the BCCI for a period of "2-4 months" it said would take the BCCI to find a new sponsor. The group had won the bid to continue as the Indian team sponsor in May 2010.  The group, which has sponsored the Indian team for 11 years, had cited several reasons for its sudden pull-out, its most recent differences with the BCCI concerning its involvement in the IPL.  So Team India is no longer Sahara Parivar.  BCCI is flexing its muscles,  Kochi Tuskers Kerala, terminated, Pune Warriors unhappy,  its broadcast deal with Nimbus Communications, who were the rights holders for all cricket played in India also stands terminated.

Right now, the biggest beneficiary is Ravindra Jadeja who two years ago, was handed a one-year ban from playing in the IPL. His offence was to try and negotiate a deal with Mumbai Indians while still under an obligation to play for Rajasthan Royals. A few months later, he was one of seven players who were sent a show-cause noticeby the BCCI following a brawl at a St Lucia pub shortly after India's exit from the 2010 World Twenty20. Jadeja ended up apologising to the board. Later the same year, he found himself out of the India team as well, replaced by Yusuf Pathan, and missed out on the 2011 World Cup.

The other Sunil Narine, an off spinner, 23 year old from Trinidad has played just 3 one dayers.  In  Champions League 201, he was an outstanding success in the tournament, taking ten wickets at an average of 10.50 and an economy rate of 4.37

So are you able to decipher what is on at IPL auction ? 

With regards – S. Sampathkumar.