Explaining some inexplicable decisions in the IPL 2015 auction

Yuvraj Singh was the biggest buy of IPL2015

It’s been a week after the World Cup and the nation is on the verge of another cricketing feast. The most watched T20 league in the world, the Indian Premier League is about to get started in a few days and there is no doubt that it will be an absolute treat for all cricket fans. While there is much to enjoy and celebrate, IPL 2015 will also serve as a platform for many players to impress the national selectors, while some carry the burden of justifying their selection in the squad.

Some of the selections and omissions in this year’s auction may seem baffling to the cricketing world, but there are some reasons (there should be) that prompted the team owners to take those enigmatic decisions. Those reasons may seem a bit bizarre for an average cricket fan, but one will have to somehow admit it and enjoy the unpredictability that the IPL brings.

Rules and Restrictions

There are some rules that every IPL team selection committee must follow while picking their squad.

· No more than 11 foreign players in the squad and a maximum of four foreign players should be in the playing eleven.

· A minimum of 14 Indian players must be included in each squad.

· A minimum of six players from the BCCI under-22 pool must be included in each squad.

Clearly, these rules are made for making IPL a perfect launch pad for many aspiring young Indian cricketers to enter the international scenario. It’s the Indian Premier League and not an International Premier League and so it’s obvious that many overseas players won’t be priced as per their real merit and value. Abiding by the rules, team owners are forced to pay more for many Indian cricketers than their international contemporaries.

Singh is King!

Probably, this could be the most intriguing selection of the IPL 2015 auction. The Punjab prince being ignored by the BCCI after his dismal performance in last year’s T20 world cup final, went for a whopping 16 crore to Delhi Daredevils - the highest price in IPL history!

This could be highly encouraging for the southpaw as he is trying to force a ‘comeback’ into the national team, but at the same time he has that added responsibility of justifying his selection by performing well and thus proving his critics wrong.

Did DD really make a big mistake by selecting someone like Yuvraj, who even struggled to connect bat to ball in last year’s T20 final - And that too, for such a huge price?

I would say no – the main reason being the fact that Yuvraj was the only Indian player in the top 10 ICC T20 batsmen rankings who was available for sale in the market. In fact he is still at the 10th position according to the rankings even after such a long gap from international cricket which shows that how dangerous he had been in the past with his explosive batting.

Yes, if Suresh Raina was there for sale, he would have grabbed much more than Yuvi. If CSK had decided to release their captain cool, price tags would have gone leaps and bounds for fetching the most successful IPL skipper. Virat Kohli, Shikar Dhawan and Ajinkya Rahane were also retained by their respective teams, leaving Delhi with no other option other than buying Yuvraj who is an Indian player with enough amount of international experience. Not underestimating his potential, but it’s a fact that the rule ‘maximum of 4 foreign players in the playing eleven’ has played a big role in Yuvi’s intriguing price tag.

Just as Virat Kohli is there for RCB and MS Dhoni for CSK, DD badly needed an icon player for commercial reasons and Yuvi’s inclusion to the team solved the dilemma. DD coach Gary Kirsten later said that he wanted Yuvraj in his team at any cost as he had strong belief in his abilities.

The man who played a major role in India’s two latest World Cup winning campaigns, will be eagerly looking to prove his worth - that he is not just an icon player, but someone who can change the course of the game single handedly.

Dinesh Karthik was bought by RCB for 10.5 crores whereas Sunrisers Hyderabad pocketed the kiwi sensation Kane Williamson for just 60 lakhs! Well, Williamson is more of a Test - ODI player than a T20 dasher, but the difference of 9.9 crores - considering their performances till date, could only be justified by the fact that Karthik is an Indian player.

Legends remained unsold

The strange case of Hashim Amla and Kumar Sangakara

If someone makes a list of top 10 players ignored by franchises in this year’s auction, no doubt Hashim Amla and Kumar Sangakara would be there at the top. They have been so consistent for their national sides and have scored runs at a good clip too.

Did franchises deliberately ignore the talent and skills of 2 world class players or is there some reason behind those strange decisions?

Well, the reason will be pretty clear if you assess the top order strength of all IPL teams. Most teams are packed with explosive big hitters at the top of their batting lineup except DD (who gave more priority to good all-rounders). Nowadays, a 40 ball 50 from an opening batsman isn’t what the team is expecting.

Kumar Sangakara’s strike rate of 119 in T20s isn’t quite sufficient to get a bid, as most teams are already packed with explosive top order players like Brendon McCullum, Aaron Finch, David Warner, and Chris Gayle. The same is the case with South African batsman Hashim Amla, as IPL is mainly a manifestation of powerhitting and there is no special place for pure class.

There hadn’t been any call for Srilankan legends Mahela Jayawardena and Tilakaratna Dilshan too– the possible reason could be their age as both of them have crossed 37.

Is it all about batting??

Take a look at Chennai Super King’s 25 member squad. Starting with Dwayne Smith and Brendon McCullum, the team has a formidable batting unit. But did the team selectors make sure that this action packed batting is quite well supported with some quality bowling?

It’s interesting to note that most of the time CSK played with 4 overseas batsmen while the bowling rested mainly on the shoulders of Indian bowlers like Ashwin and Mohit Sharma. Even though Indian players are known for strong batting and weak bowling, the Chennai franchise always opted for Indian bowlers over foreign bowlers in their playing eleven. Infact this time, they didn’t even try to bid for bowlers like Trent boult and Mitchell McCleanaghan, and the latter was sold to MI for just 30 lakhs.

Are they relying too much in the strength of their batting unit? or are they so confident on the abilities of the local bowlers?

They probably back them since they are very familiar to the Indian conditions. Being inexperienced, players like Trent Boult and Mitchell McCleanaghan, might be oblivion to the length at which one should bowl in subcontinent conditions, where there won’t be much bounce and pace on the wicket.

Mohit and Ashwin - Bowling spearheads of CSK

Indian bowlers on the other hand, being more familiar with those conditions, would be having clear ideas about bowling in batting friendly wickets. This could be the reason why the veteran bowler Ashish Nehra was retained and Irfan Pathan (sold for 1.5 Cr) got the nod over the kiwi pacers. This also ensures that, 4 overseas players are used well enough, making the batting lineup a fearsome one.