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Sunday, February 7, 2016

Inflation and ... IPL !! ~ Pawan Negi who ? ... and IPL auction !

Inflation is too much money chasing too few goods ~ what is too much money is chasing too many things ….. it is  * IPL Auction *

Strange things happen in Cricket – if you are to watch IPL only now – you would have no confusion ~ not for the afficando – for over the 8 years – so many changes in teams and their composition and this year with 2 teams going out and 2 new coming in – too many transfers / sales …  Incidentally, the Q to the statistician – do you remember 8th May 2015 match at Chepauk when CSK lost ?  

If you are following U19 WC – in their QF match India thrashed Namibia, who had beaten South Africa earlier.  India  349 for 6 (Pant 111, Sarfaraz 76, Jaafer 64) beat Namibia Under-19s 152 (Dagar 3-25, Anmolpreet 3-27) by 197 runs.

The young emerging hero Rishabh Pant continued his fine run of form in the Under-19 World Cup, slamming his third successive fifty-plus score to guide India into the semi-finals following a 197-run win against Namibia. Pant, who had blasted the fastest U-19 international half-century during the win against Nepal, scored 111 off 96 balls with 14 fours and two sixes, powering his team to a mammoth 349 for 6.

All these invariably lead us to IPL …  Professionals get more money ! ..  in this age of commercialism, everyone tries to maximize their revenues, things are outsourced and experts command a premium ! ~ To come under the hammer’ or ‘fall under the hammer’ are phrases which refers to something being auctioned.   .. .. .. why pay so high for someone when that man actually knows little of the product being sold and the process would anyway be the same – whosoever does that  ? – no answers perhaps !!!    

Richard Madley, who lives in Biddestone and works for Dreweatts in Bristol,  did it in 2008 for Indian Premier League, when 8 teams spent over $40 million in eight hours to ‘own’ 75 best cricket players in the world;  he was back in 2011; 2012; 2014 and now again in 2016.   Crores exchanged and some went for astronomical prices, nothing new other than the name of the players.

On a day when 94 players were sold for a total of Rs 136 crore* at the IPL 2016 auction in Bangalore, it was a bunch of Indian uncapped players who drew the most attraction and a good chunk of the cash too. Top among them - and one of four men who walked away with a contract worth a million dollars or more - was Pawan Negi, a left-arm spinner who can tonk the ball down the order, who was sold for Rs 8.5 crore to Delhi Daredevils. South African allrounder Chris Morris was the other surprise million-dollar man, fetching Rs 7 crore, also from Daredevils. Australian allrounder Shane Watson bagged the biggest deal of the day, bought for Rs 9.5 crore by Royal Challengers Bangalore, while India's Yuvraj Singh secured his third-straight million-dollar bid at an IPL auction. However the Rs 7 crore Sunrisers Hyderabad bid for Yuvraj was far less than what he fetched at the last two auctions - Rs 16 crore last year, and Rs 14 crore the year before that. He looked like he might actually go unsold this time round after setting his base price at Rs 2 crore, but at the last moment he got a bid from Mumbai Indians, followed by Royal Challengers Bangalore, before being snapped up by Sunrisers.

Another big surprise was seam-bowling West Indies allrounder Carlos Brathwaite, who had impressed with quickfire fifties down the order and his enthusiasm on the recent Test series in Australia. He got a winning bid of 4.2 crore from Delhi Daredevils, 14 times his base price of Rs 30 lakh. There were big surprises among the unsold players too: the in-form New Zealand and Australia batsmen Martin Guptill and Usman Khawaja. Two big Test names, Cheteshwar Pujara and Hashim Amla, also went unsold too, but a bit more surprisingly, there were no bids for Mahela Jayawardene or Michael Hussey either. West Indies allrounder Darren Sammy did not attract a bid either.

Karnataka batsman Karun Nair was expected to be one of the big buys among the uncapped players, and so it was soon after the lunch break with Daredevils, Supergiants and Lions all bidding for him and bumping his price up to Rs 4 crore from a base price of Rs 10 lakh. Baroda allrounder Deepak Hooda's price went up from Rs 10 lakh to Rs 4.2 crore, secured by Sunrisers after a long round of bidding. Rajasthan fast bowler Nathu Singh also earned big, getting Rs 3.2 crore from Mumbai Indians, from a base priced of Rs 10 lakh. Mumbai Indians had made the winning bid after a long back-and-forth between Daredevils and Royal Challengers. Tamil Nadu legspinner M Ashwin was the most sought after slow bowler on a day when spinners were generally ignored by the franchises, and also the biggest gainer; he sold for Rs 4.5 crore to Supergiants from an opening bid of Rs 10 lakh - he got a whopping 45 times his base price, the day's biggest multiple from the base price.  Seventeen-year-old India Under-19 captain Ishan Kishan was picked up by Lions for Rs 35 lakh. His U-19 team-mate Rishabh Pant was fought for by Supergiants, Mumbai Indians, Royal Challengers and Daredevils, bumping his base price up from Rs 10 lakh to Rs 1.9 crore before Daredevils snapped him up.

All eleven spinners lined up in the morning round of bidding went unsold, including India's Pragyan Ojha and Rahul Sharma, the in-form Australian Nathan Lyon and Sri Lankan mystery spinner Ajantha Mendis. West Indies legspinner Samuel Badree was bought the second time his name came up, by Royal Challengers, for Rs 50 lakh. The first and only Bangladesh buy of the day happened with Mustafizur Rahman (base price Rs 50 lakh) going to Sunrisers for Rs 1.4 crore. Another big gainer among the uncapped players was Uttar Pradesh wicketkeeper Eklavya Dwivedi, who went to Lions for Rs 1 crore (base price Rs 20 lakh).  Allrounder Krunal Pandya - brother of Hardik Pandya who had debuted for India in the just-concluded T20s against Australia and was retained by Mumbai Indians before the auction - was bought by Mumbai Indians after a bidding war with Daredevils that bumped his price up to Rs 2 crore (base price Rs 10 lakh).

Perhaps Ranji trophy is also being watched .. Left-arm seamer Jaydev Unadkat has been on a song.  He took four wickets in the second innings to take his match tally to nine for 116 as Saurashtra thrashed Vidarbha by an innings and 85 runs and book their place in the Ranji Trophy semifinal for the first time in three seasons.  Unadkat was snapped by my son’s fav team KKR for 1.6 crores.

Now read back, you will be surprised that you have read the names of some for the first time !!!!   ~  and if you are remembering that Q of that match at Chepauk MI beat CSK then due to the heroics of Hardik Pandya.   The visitors had the chase of 159 under control with an 84-run opening stand in ten overs, but R Ashwin had Parthiv Patel and Lendl Simmons caught in the deep in the 11th. Dwayne Bravo ran out Kieron Pollard in the 12th as Super Kings started their familiar fightback. The ball was turning, sharp fielders were cutting off singles, and Rohit Sharma and Ambati Rayudu were struggling to score. The asking-rate rose to two runs a ball.

It was down to 30 off the last two overs. Fast bowlers had conceded 0 for 64 in five overs, his spinners had taken 2 for 54 in 11. Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja had bowled out. Dhoni went for the left-arm spinner Negi, who had given ten in three overs and had revitalized Super Kings innings with an unbeaten 36 off 17. Pandya cracked three of Negi's first four balls for straight sixes. Game all but over. Rayudu lifted the last ball for another straight six. From 30 off 12; it became 5 off 6 !

Wheels of fortune have changed in a few months ~ now Negi is in the National squad and yesterday he was bought by Delhi Daredevils for 8.5 crores !

With regards – S. Sampathkumar
7th Feb 2016.


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