Indian Premier League auctions often progress in a lane parallel to conventional logic. The two shall never meet. Of course, much of this method to madness is dictated by changing dynamics and a team's requirement at a particular moment of that auction. That's why no amount of preparation seems enough as teams are forced to spend ridiculous amounts of money on "random" players. Equally surprisingly, some players expected to hit the jackpot go "unsold". One such player who remained untouched by IPL franchises in the February auction was a certain Devon Conway. Yes, it certainly wasn’t the name on everyone’s lips then.
It might appear incongruous to talk of a lack of IPL contract in the immediacy of his double ton on Test debut, but long before he put his name on the Lord's honours board, he was making waves in white-ball cricket. Conway’s ODI strike-rate, even if in only three matches, is over 88 per 100 balls faced, and he averages 75 per innings. His T20I record is even more impressive. In 14 games, the southpaw has a strike rate of 151.11 and an average of 59.12. Though a few of those 14 T20 ties were post the auction, Conway had done enough for him to hope for at least a base-price (Rs 50 lakh) bid. However, the same day he was deemed superfluous, the 29-year-old’s Kiwi mate Kyle Jamieson was snapped up for a life-changing Rs 15 crore by Royal Challengers Bangalore, desperate for a pace-bowling all-rounder!
Former Kiwi pacer-turned-commentator Simon Doull minced no words about the IPL's treatment of the Black Caps when, four days after the auction, Conway blazed to a 59-ball 99 against Australia in New Zealand's 53-run win in a T20I.
"... NZ players have continually been overlooked for second rate Australians in the IPL for years. Seems outside of IPL big bash is the only comp looked at..," he had tweeted.
Just over three months after that disappointment, Conway has batted his way into the record books. In doing so, he may also have just assured himself of a place in IPL 2021 as franchises could be without overseas internationals, especially from England, as and when the remainder of the suspended 14th edition of the T20 event is conducted. Not so much for the amount of runs he scored in his maiden Test innings, but for the manner in which he advertised his talent and compelled people to dig out details about him.
Having moved to New Zealand at 25 from South Africa, where his cricket was heading nowhere, Conway became eligible to play for his adopted country last August. In fact, his residency visa was approved only this April, just in time to facilitate his return to New Zealand after the ongoing tour of England. Under the Kiwi government's Covid-19 protocols, only citizens or residents are allowed to return to New Zealand. Conway couldn't have celebrated this momentous development any better than he did at the spiritual home of the game four days ago.
"When we arrived at Lord's a couple days ago, we walked into the changing room and got the opportunity to have a look at all the legends and the names up on that honours board," said Conway after the first day's play, when he returned unbeaten after having gone past his century. "Funny enough, I had a conversation with Kane (Williamson), asking what it feels like to see your name on that board (the New Zealand skipper had slammed a ton at Lord's in 2015), and the first thing he said when I went up into the changing room was, 'Now you know what it's like, bro'. It's pretty cool, it's a great place and I'm grateful my name can go up there."
Conway landed in New Zealand determined to make the country his new home for good. To kill off any temptation of going back to the country of his birth, Conway sold all the property he couldn't carry with him to their new residence.
"I sold my property, car and everything that we couldn't bring over, because I wanted to close that chapter and start afresh. If I hadn't done that and my cricket didn't feel all right after one season, I might have started thinking on the lines of 'Maybe I can move back'. I didn't want to," he had told ESPNCricinfo at the time.
Just like that, he had become the latest South African to find his calling in the land of the Kiwi. Now, he has become a lot more than just that.