Cracking the code

All of them have a one-day strike rates of above 80 and T20 strike rate of close to 100 or more. And their work behind the stumps makes them good value for money. Understandably, there will be competition among the eight franchises to get hold of any of the top four.

That8217;s a lot of money!

The players find themselves in an all-win situation. Regardless of whether the auction starts with Ponting or Warne, the Indians 8212; 33 of who have signed up with IPL 8212; are all likely to end up with three times more money to play for a month than they earn from the BCCI for one year through retainers. Tendulkar, for example, is in BCCI8217;s Grade A of annual contracts, where he earns Rs 60 lakh apart from match fees. Through the IPL, Sachin is expected to earn more than US400,000 more than Rs two crore for just 44 days of action!

The trouble with icons8230;

While the good thing about having an icon player on your side is that you don8217;t have to enter a price-war for him, there8217;s a big drawback as well. Icon players have to be paid 15 more than the highest paid player on the team. Which is why the four teams who already have the icon players 8212; Mumbai, Mohali, Bangalore and Kolkata 8212; may not be able to go all out for any of the other stars as they try and stay within the US 5m. So, how will Mallya balance the books?

What are the odds!

Now here8217;s a big surprise8230; from the Australian camp. It8217;s two retired international cricketers, and not the ones currently busy with international cricket, who are among the costliest players on the auction window. Shane Warne is up for sale for a minimum of US 495,500 and fellow retiree Glenn McGrath US385,500 is also rated above 11 other Australian players, including captain Ricky Ponting US 358,000. The cheapest Australian is, incidentally, Victorian all-rounder Cameron White at 110,500.