IPL Auction: Dreams rolling on a roulette wheel

Bengaluru: Here we go again. Paddles, gavels, gentrified auctioneers, nail-chewing strategists, inane advertisements, complex data sets, intense glares, joy, disappointment, barroom debates, lives to be made, careers on the wane showcased.   

Welcome to yet another edition of the Indian Premier League’s Auction - two days where everyone is allowed to unabashedly ask about someone’s ‘salary’ and have opinions on it. Clearly, nothing has changed since 2008, but this one - the 18th edition - has a different sentiment to it. 

The league has undergone an unprecedented metamorphosis since inception, growing to heights at a pace that business playbooks reckon unsustainable, foolish even, but the IPL has rarely disappointed in delivery. 

On Sunday and Monday in Jeddah, that is most likely going to be the case once again because 577 cricketers from all over the world will go under the hammer for their abilities in the shortest format. 

Some will come away with more money than they could have imagined, some will feel just about satiated, and others will feel ignored enough to wrap up a dream for a realistic reverie.

The trailing sentence won’t have any bearing on the likes of Rishabh Pant though because he is most likely going to become the highest-paid cricketer in the history of the IPL with industry insiders claiming that he would breach the Rs 25 crore mark. 

See, there is Rs 641.5 crore cumulatively in the kitty of ten teams with 204 possible slots to be filled, and there are only so many sides who have the monetary resources to afford Pant should they need the wicketkeeper/ captain. 

All things considered, Punjab Kings (Rs 110.50 crore) and Royal Challengers Bengaluru (Rs 83 crore) are the most likely to pull up those paddles on a whim. 

Delhi Capitals have Rs 73 crore open to them, and a Right To Match card to get Pant back, but given the southpaw’s recent admission, wherein he doesn’t want them to flash the card so they can part ways amicably, it is unlikely that DC will bother. 

Unless of course, it’s part of their strategy to artificially spike Pant’s value to ensure other teams spend more on him and end up losing their grip on the other players they desire to plug the voids in their side. 

An identical strategy could be applied by Punjab Kings as they contemplate using the RTM card on Arshdeep Singh because the left-arm seamer is worth the trouble, and numerous teams will be looking to snag the recent T20 World Cup winner. 

Besides these two, you have Shreyas Iyer and KL Rahul up for grabs should Indian skippers be the flavour.

As for the foreign contingency, the likes of Jos Buttler, Mitchell Starc, and Kagiso Rabada will be sought after from the marquee list. 

The list itself comprises 12 players - some of whom have already been spoken of earlier - spread across two sets, and this will set the base for what is to come over the course of the next few days because a massive chunk of the money will be expended on these resources.  

Notable absentees from the auction shortlist include England’s Jofra Archer and Mark Wood. Staying with the British, James Anderson has made himself available, which is quite an interesting development given his age (42) and his historic absence from the tournament due to red-ball commitments. 

Anderson, much like everyone else, is a dreamer, and the fact that the IPL has continued to provide a platform for those in the business of optimism and manifestation is remarkable.

So, here we go again, 48 hours of dreamers getting bought and sold while we vicariously ingest their lives from these screens. Fun.