IPL auction story: Buzz is with the newbies
In the refined ambience of ITC Gardenia in Bengaluru, where the latest IPL auction unravelled, the delegates of Rising Pune Supergiants and Gujarat Lions, the newbies of the league, must have felt sweaty. Or even a bit jumpy or anxious. The cameras focussed interminably on them—seated in a huddle around the designated table—soaking every passing emotion on their face. On the surface, they seemed laid-back and relaxed, but deep inside they would have wanted Richard Madley to take out his gavel as early as possible and set the ball rolling.
When finally Madley got things underway at 9.30 am, the clock hands forming an inverted L, Supergiants and Lions got down to their business straightaway. IPL chairman Rajiv Shukla picked Kevin Pietersen’s name first from the pot, and Supergiants got going. Without any hesitation, Lions too jumped in. Both went about circumspectly, incrementally increasing the bid. Lions gave up when the price touched Rs 3.5 crore. Dwayne Smith (based price of Rs 50 lakh), the Chennai Super Kings opener, was more aggressively sought, before Lions sealed him for Rs 2.3 crore. Supergiants then staved off bids from Kings XI Punjab to avail the services of India pacer Ishant Sharma at Rs 3.8 crore. So the first three deals in the marquee group were all completed by the freshers. It wasn’t entirely unexpected, as these teams required to build their squad from the scratch, both with just five players from the suspended Rajasthan Royals and Chennai Super Kings before the auction.
There was an interesting pattern to their bidding. Lions, it seemed, were hell-bent on gobbling up as many CSK alumni as possible, almost trying to recreate another CSK.
The addition of Smith—to go with Suresh Raina, Brendon McCullum, Ravindra Jadeja and Dwayne Bravo, whom they had purchased in the December draft—meant there would be at least five ex-CSK regulars in the top seven. It made sense in that they have retained a highly successful formula, and wouldn’t have to fret much over team bonding and such-like intangibles. And CSK, unlike several others, was a side that took great care to nurture and retain the nucleus, something which prompted Ravichandran Ashwin to liken them to the decorated Manchester United side of the SAF-era. And they would look to continue with the legacy bequeathed primarily by Dhoni. To assiduously sustain the tried, tested and proven formula. That they were inspired by CSK was even betrayed by their roaring-lion logo.
Smith and McCullum were relatively new-comers to the CSK fold, but they formed the best prolific opening pair in the last two editions. In 2014, they aggregated 42.75 per match in 12 outings at a strike rate in excess of 120. McCullum racked up 405 runs while Smith excelled him with 566 runs. The subsequent edition saw them plunder 436 and 399 runs respectively, reaching a collective crescendo en route piling up 109 runs in 7.2 overs against Mumbai. Raina, Bravo and Jadeja too were immovables in their line-up. Add to the list Dinesh Karthik and their batting looks more or less sorted out, so much so that even Aaron Finch too might find it difficult to command a permanent slot. Now they need to figure out the best bowling permutation from among the likes of Dale Steyn, Praveen Kumar, Ishwar Pandey and Dhawal Kulkarni. Praveen Tambe and Sarabjit Ladda prop up their spin department. But essentially it could be CSK-ians in a new jersey under a new name, captained by Dhoni’s protege. At least, they would make us feel so.
Dhoni charting a new path
In contrast, Dhoni might miss those familiar faces, barring those of his trusted lieutenants Ravichadran Ashwin and Faf du Plessis, and to a lesser extent, Baba Aparajith and Irfan Pathan, whose CSK-stint was injury-ridden. There are former/present teammates like RP Singh and Ishant Sharma, coach Stephen Fleming and domestic contemporary Rajat Bhatia. But Dhoni will have to literally work with a new group, the most celebrated among the colleagues being Kevin Pietersen, whose run-ins with his national captains and coaches are well-storied, and a topic of widespread polarisation. He is perceived as something of a bully, and had stints with three IPL franchisees with varying degrees of success. But when channelised smartly, he could strike a chord with the crowd, as he did in his Delhi Daredevils sojourn, and be a game-changer who could furnish the Supergiants with an undisputed cutting edge. He is coming off a productive BBL season (323 runs at 40.37 with a strike rate of 159.11) and Dhoni could be calming influence that could optimise his potential. Either way, expect him to be in the news.
Watson, the eye-catcher
Given the versatile skills he brings on to the table, of which he served a reminder in the T20 series against India, Watson was always going to be a costly pick. And in an auction wherein all-rounders were the hottest movers—shading the stock of batsmen— Watson accrued the maximum bid, with Royal Challengers Bangalore acquiring him for a staggering 9.5 crores. The second most expensive buy was, surprisingly, Pawan Negi, for whom Delhi Daredevils shelled out a mindless sum of Rs 8.5 crore, almost 20 times his base price (Rs 30 lakh). The underachieving Delhi Daredevils shed their early reluctance to splurge—adding to the roster Sanju Samson (Rs 4.2 crore), Chris Morris (Rs 7 crore), the little-known Carlos Brathwaite (Rs 4.2 crore), Karun Nair (Rs 4 crore) and Rishabh Pant (Rs 1.9 crore), whose exploits in the U-19 World Cup might have had a bearing on the sum he managed. Some of those seemed like wanton spending, though.
HIGHLIGHTS
Rs 12.45 cr
The amount of money left in Kings XI Punjab’s kitty, the most among the franchises. Mumbai Indians had the least, Rs 1.30 cr.
> 94 Cricketers were sold out of the 351 included in the IPL player auction.
> 66 Indian cricketers were among those who went under the hammer, the rest being foreigners
Two for company
Pune already had Ravichandran Ashwin, the country’s premier off-spinner. Now they have another Ashwin in their squad. Murugan Ashwin is no relation to the celebrated bowler but this little-known legspinner was recommended to the team management by his famous namesake. Despite making his debut for Tamil Nadu in 2012, M Ashwin has played only 3 First Class matches (taking 1 wicket) but it is the 10 wickets in 6 Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 matches this January that got everyone to sit up. Still Rs 4.5 crore is a hefty sum and M Ashwin sure has a lot to live up to.
O Brother
Hardik Pandya, who made his debut for the national team in Australia, has a Rs 10 lakh IPL contract with Mumbai Indians. But his uncapped brother Krunal fetched 20 times more than that in Saturday’s auction.
