IPL - Indian Partisan League?

So, the much talked-about IPL auction is over. And the ten franchises have picked their share of players from the player-bazaar! A lot has been written about the auction, and as much as I despise this system wherein teams bid for players as if they were livestock at the Metropolitan Cattle Market in London, I must admit there seems to be no alternative at present. The Draft Systems used in the NBA, MLB and NFL will most likely not work in a competition as volatile as the IPL. But the question that can be, and most definitely should be, raised is – how fair is this auction and the player selection process? Because, on the face of it, the process looks heavily tilted towards the mighty and the influential.

Indian Premier League

First things first. The most outrageous aspect of the IPL is, and has been since the first edition, the role of a certain Mr. N. Srinivasan – Secretary of the BCCI as well as the owner of Chennai SuperKings. How fair do you think a competition can be if the organizer or facilitator himself is also a competitor? Bernie Eccelstone doesn’t own a team in Formula 1, neither does David Stern have stakes in any NBA side. The newly elected chairman of the FA – David Bernstein – was once associated with Manchester City, but that ended seven years back. Leave aside sports events, as a kid, whenever I participated in cultural competitions, the Terms and Conditions would always specify: ‘Family members and relatives of the organizing firm will not be eligibe to take part’. And yet, Mr. Srinivasan has no qualms in continuing with his dual role! Even after the Supreme Court publicly admonished him for holding on to both positions. I guess virtues like morality and ethics have long since ceased to count for much for our sports administrators.

Chennai are not the only influential side though. Mumbai Indians, with the richest Indian as their owner, have a significant monetary clout and the deepest purse of all the franchises. No wonder then, that the IPL Governing Council gave green signal to the Player Retainment policy even though only Mumbai and Chennai wanted it implemented. Such is the power of money and authority! The decision implied a twofold blow to the other franchises, especially the two teams making their debut this season – Kochi and Pune. For one, it meant that Kochi and Pune, irrespective of how hard they wished and how much money they had, had no hope of signing the likes of Tendulkar, Dhoni or Pollard who were not released by their team owners. Also, the retainment policy meant that while the old franchises had the option of going into the auction with a purse of $9 million in addition to the four players they could retain, the debutants got the same budget to build a team from nada. Highly unfair! It was the BCCI that started the league with eight teams. It was the BCCI again that later decided to add two more sides and awarded the franchises to their current owners. And thus the onus was on the BCCI to ensure a level playing field for all the competitors. That, quite evidently, hasn’t happened.

Not only the teams, the selection process also seems prejudiced against the fringe Indian players, or the ‘Uncapped‘ players as the IPL calls them. While domestic cricketers from Australia, South Africa and Sri Lanka were made part of the auction, and some like Mitchell Marsh and James Pattinson were even picked up for substantial amounts, the Indian domestic players found no place! Even though some of them had played stellar roles for their IPL teams in the last three seasons! Defies all logic! And this again, was a change brought about by the BCCI at the request of the Mumbai Indians, and against the wishes of at least five other franchises! Till a few days back the Sumans, Rayudus and Rahanes were also supposed to go under the hammer. However, a last minute alteration in the rules by the Governing Council now means that while someone like a Saurabh Tiwary, thanks to his two appearances for India, fetched himself a cool million and a half dollars, the equally gifted and equally sought-after Manish Pandey (the first Indian to crack a ton in the IPL) will now have to settle for a maximum salary of Rs. 30 lakhs! That’s the official figure though. This brainchild of the Mumbai management will now kick-off a new war of under-the-table payments to sign these domestic stars – something that can prove to be a major embarassment for the BCCI if they do not keep a tight vigil on it.

And lastly the ‘catchment area’ problem. IPL rules specify that the teams are required to pick at least four players from their neighboring locations, or the designated catchment areas. While the rule apparently looks like one that should help in the development of the game in the adjoining places, there is this small issue regarding the classification of the catchment areas for the franchises. And again, one feels the new franchises have been hard done by! Pune have been allotted two Ranji Trophy Plate teams – Maharashtra and Vidarbha – as their catchment. Ditto for Kochi, as they have three Plate teams – Kerala, Services and Madhya Pradesh. Deccan is the only other side that does not have even one Ranji Super League team in their catchment area.

So, as is evident, the IPL auction is not all glossy, glamorous and clean as it appears on television. But then what else can we expect from an event which, much like the Indian society itself, has become a place for the rich and the powerful to wield their influence? I am sure the Metropolitan Cattle Market hands out fairer deals to the bidders.