IPL Auction 2022 a spectacle that will further promote the 'robust' Indian Premier League brand

Is there a method to the madness or is the auction a world in itself, which is governed by its own laws and rules where every plan and strategy is shunned after a while? Do the franchises go by hope and expect that they will be lucky or is there logic behind every buy?

Are some of the buys justified? In an auction can there ever be a pattern to the spending? Finally, have the owners moved away from being emotional with their buys and learnt to take hard business calls keeping in mind the huge spends associated with the tournament?

In sum, every auction is a day of madness which throws up some strange bids and some baffling decision making but in the end there is a tad of emotion as well. For example, Cheteshwar Pujara being picked by CSK a year earlier shows there is more to the IPL than simple demand and supply and that’s why we continue to celebrate this tournament in the manner that we do.

How do franchises approach an auction?

“We come in with a very conscious strategy”, says Venky Mysore, the CEO of the Kolkata Knight Riders. “We want to add particular skillsets to the side and not simply go by names. Team balance is the key and that’s what we will aim to do again in the forthcoming auction”.

This auction will be like no other. A mega auction of this scale hasn’t happened before and with two new teams adding to the spectacle, it will get cricket fans from across the world to talk about it. Interestingly, every franchise owner you speak to at the end of it all will tell you the very same thing.

Each one of them is happy with their buys and each one of them feel they have done the best. Yet at least two of them will end up 9th and 10th and will have a disastrous season 15!

Also, the auction will yet again prove that the IPL continues to be robust as a brand and continues to surprise one and all. To see the amount of money spent at a time when there is a supposed economic crisis in the country is startling to say the least. Indian cricket, or more specifically the IPL, can face any crisis head on. Be it covid or an economic slump, the Indian Premier League in that sense is uniquely Indian.

Can’t wait for the auction to start!