Opinion Express View on IPL auction: An unpredictable game

Mitchell Starc, the IPL auction record-breaker, last featured in the league in 2015. His compatriot and captain Pat Cummins, who also fetched an astronomical sum, has figured in only 42 games. Starc would be 34 and Cummins 33 when the next season unfolds. Yet, in tune with IPL auctions not always following prevailing trends and conventional wisdom, franchises broke their banks to acquire their signatures — Rs 24.75 crore for Starc and Rs 20.45 crore for Cummins. The IPL  is both a trend-seeker and a trend-buster. The ink that marked the big fat pay cheques of several players was perhaps their World Cup success. Had Australia not won the World Cup, Starc and Cummins might not have featured in the intense bidding war in Dubai.

Travis Head had gone unsold since 2018, despite doing well for his country. Similar was the fate of Daryl Mitchell, a regular in several franchise leagues but not considered worthy enough to get an IPL cheque. The Kiwi ended up being picked for Rs 14 crore. Gerald Coetzee, Rachin Ravindra and Dilshan Madushanka enjoyed a profitable World Cup and a hefty bill awaited them. Some of them may not have a glittering list of T20 feats. But franchises look for big-game players, multi-dimensional talents and those they could tap to build a brand and identity. It’s similar to football transfers soon after a World Cup or Euros.

Advertisement

There is little guarantee that the players who reaped it big in Dubai will justify their price tag. Cameron Green has struggled to prove his Rs 17.50 crore worth. Ben Stokes and Chris Morris — even Yuvraj Singh — rarely paid back their IPL teams. But instances of million-dollar transfers flopping have not deterred franchises from shattering records in auctions, which, in a sense, is now an event in itself — a gloriously unpredictable game.