‘Humiliating’ IPL auction criticised by NZCPA

ESPNCricinfo: The IPL has signalled that it might move away from the auction system, which was this week criticised as “undignified and cruel” and “humiliating” to players.

New Zealand has become the first country where administrators have dared to voice disapproval of the auction. New Zealand Cricket Players Association Heath Mills Chief Executive told the New Zealand Herald: “I think the whole system is archaic and deeply humiliating for the players, who are paraded like cattle for all the world to see.”

Mills was endorsing a tweet from former Wellington Cricket Chief Executive Peter Clinton, who said: “The IPL Auction is such an undignified, cruel and unnecessary employment practice. Ridiculous that it exists today, belongs in the medieval ages.”

The IPL is firmly established as the most lucrative career option for Twenty20 cricketers of note - the place where virtually every player wants to be - but Mills suggested that the acquiescence of the players should not be interpreted as contentment about the system.

“There’s a lot of good things about the Indian Premier League and it’s been great for cricket but I’d like to see it mirror the rest of professional sport in the way they engage athletes,” Mills said.

“Some players do exceptionally well out of if but the vast majority would like to see the system changed. They would like to negotiate with coaches and owners behind closed doors.”

Mills’ criticism centred upon the players’ lack of control over their own destiny. Under the auction system, they are commodities, available to the highest bidder, and have no input as to where they play.

“The players enter the auction not knowing where they are going, who their team-mates are going be, who’s managing them, who the owners are -- no other sports league in the world engages players on that basis,” he said.

“We’ve seen some players play for five or six teams over the 10 years the league has been going. Coaches cannot build an affinity with players, they can’t build a long-term culture. Players’ associations around the world would like to see it change.”

Supporters seeking to identify with a club have also traditionally valued a mix of continuity and new signings, although the IPL’s heavy turnover does not seem to have hampered its popularity as it has become an irresistible part of the world cricketing calendar.

Nevertheless, the IPL is aware of the scepticism from the rest of the cricketing world towards its ‘mega auctions’. IPL Chief Operating Officer Hemang Amin said that auctions might give way to a draft system, which is well established across a wide range of sports.

“Going forward, the thinking is that we will reduce, maybe not have mega auctions, but consider having a draft system for new players to come in, which acts as feeder system to teams,” Amin said at the end of the two-day IPL auction last weekend. “Hence, IPL Governing Council is thinking on the lines of how to cut down on the big auction and have the continuity with teams.”

This year the IPL made it mandatory that teams had to spend a minimum 75% of their purse before and during the auction. That would include both retentions and buying new players. The total purse available for all eight franchises was $ 100 million, out of which Amin said $ 96.875 million was spent by the end of the auction.

Amin said the IPL had decided to reduce the number of players that remained unsold compared to the previous big auction, in 2014, so reducing the number of players actively rejected during the auction process.

“If you look at the 2014 auction, we had presented around 320 players then before going into the accelerated bidding process. This time, we have taken learnings from previous years. We presented 170 players of which around 120 were sold. So if you compare to 2014 when 200 players went unsold, this time it was 50 or 60 who went unsold. Also on day one, 70 out of 110 were sold. So we’re trying to reduce the number of unsold players.”

In all, however, 581 players were named in the final auction list. New Zealand managed to find seven sales from 24 names; England a similar outcome.

Mills was not confident about change. He told the Herald, “It’s almost got to the point where there’s more interest in the auction than the games and I think they’ll keep doing it even though the general player view it is that there’s better ways to do it.”

Bolt from the blue: five talking points from IPL auction

BANGALORE (AFP): The eight teams in the cash-rich Indian Premier League spent almost $ 70 million at an auction for players ahead of the Twenty20 tournament, which starts in April. 

The results showed a marked shift away from purchasing big-name foreign stars, in favour of up-and-coming players from India and elsewhere. Here are five talking points: 

Root gets the boot 

While there were no bidders for England’s Test and one-day captains Joe Root and Eoin Morgan, Kings XI Punjab paid $ 628,000 for Mujeeb Zadran, a 16-year-old spinner from Afghanistan. Mujeeb, the youngest player to be signed by an IPL team, was spotted by Indian scouts at the under-19 Asian Cup in Kuala Lumpur last November. Nepal will also get its first IPL player after 17-year-old leg-spinner Sandeep Lamichhane landed a $ 31,446 deal with Delhi Daredevils. One reason for the signings could be a desire to expand the IPL’s fan base in other South Asian countries. “We will have some new fans for IPL ... I hope this will start a cricket revolution in Nepal,” Delhi Chief Executive Hemant Dua said. 

Royal return 

Rajasthan Royals and Chennai Super Kings are returning from two-year bans for illegal gambling. The Royals, who won the first IPL in 2008 under Shane Warne, turned out to be big spenders, shelling out $ 10.3 million for 23 players, including the top two buys, Ben Stokes ($1.96m) and Jaydev Unadkat ($1.8m). They will be relying on the big names to lift their less exalted team-mates to success. But the conservative Super Kings, twice IPL champions, spent just $ 6.4 million in two days and did not make any of the top 10 purchases. Mahendra Singh Dhoni was retained as captain ahead of the auction. Their top buy, Kedar Jadav, who cost $ 1.2 million, could be a smart buy for his explosive batting and surprising off-spin. With reputations to restore, both teams will be in the spotlight on their return from scandal.

Indian talent 

Jaydev Unadkat is not with the Indian Test or one day team touring South Africa, but he is one of the hottest T20 bowlers on the planet. Unadkat, player of the series in India’s recent T20 games against Sri Lanka, went for $ 1.8 million to Rajasthan Royals, making the 26-year-old the second most expensive player behind Ben Stokes. Unadkat’s deal also highlighted a tendency to pick Indian talent rather than foreign stars who may not perform well on Indian pitches. Batsmen Manish Pandey and Lokesh Rahul came third and fourth in the rankings, both costing about $ 1.7 million. Players with no experience in the national team also featured prominently: the Royals spent almost $ 1 million on uncapped off-spinner Krishnappa Gowtham, and Krunal Pandya became the costliest uncapped buy when he went to Mumbai Indians for $ 1.38 million. “If we look at the history of IPL, teams which had a strong core group of Indian players have done well consistently,” former India opener Wasim Jaffer wrote in The Times of India. TV pundit Dean Jones said: “They (the teams) all started to tell these (established) players that enough is enough. They are looking for the younger player.” 

Archer: bolt from the blue 

Jofra Archer was one of the IPL auction sensations. The Rajasthan Royals paid $ 1.1 million for the all-rounder from Barbados who is seeking to qualify for England, and has already made a name for himself with English county Sussex and for Hobart Hurricanes in Australia’s Big Bash League. He has bowled at up to 150 kilometres (94 miles) an hour and made scintillating run-outs in the field. Archer, only 22, will not be eligible to play for England until 2022, ruling him out of the 2019 World Cup. But he is set to compete for the spotlight with Ben Stokes and the rest of the star-studded Royals team. 

Going, going, gone 

The weekend IPL auction, with 169 players bought for nearly $ 70 million, was the biggest in four years -- and could be the last. The previous three years witnessed featured more than 300 players in a one-day auction, compared to 581 over two days this year. Next year could see a shift to transfers between teams, and new signings within current limits of eight overseas players. IPL officials are also considering introducing a draft system. “This time we had this big auction after four years because we had two suspended teams for two years. So we extended the player regulations by one year and had this auction,” IPL Chief Operating Officer Hemang Amin told The Hindu. “Going forward, the thinking is that we will not have this mega auction but will consider having a draft system for the new players which acts as a feeder system for the teams. “