Cricket and commerce: On the Indian Premier League auction in Dubai

The cash-rich IPL holds the key to Indian team’s fortunes (an amount of wealth or material prosperity) in T20 internationals

Last week’s Indian Premier League’s (IPL) auction in Dubai reiterated (to say something again, once or several times) the sporting brand’s enduring (lasting a period, durable) value and financial muscle. The T20 league, which many years ago Rahul Dravid famously referred to as ‘a domestic tournament with an international flavour’, has come a long way since its launch on a glitzy (having a fashionable appearance intended to attract attention) April night at Bengaluru’s M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in 2008. The championship has survived a betting and fixing scandal, team suspensions and ownership issues, and become an irreplaceable element of the Indian summer and a much-watched fixture in the annual cricket calendar. The latest auction with its overseas tryst (an appointed meeting or meeting place) had an obvious recency (the fact of being recent, of having occurred a relatively short time ago) bias as evident in the World Cup winning Australian squad’s trio of skipper Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc and Travis Head eliciting (to get or produce something, especially information or a reaction) competitive bids. The first two also scaled the ₹20 crore peak, which had remained unscaled so far in the IPL’s history. Kolkata Knight Riders picked Starc at ₹24.75 crore and Sunrisers Hyderabad latched onto (to become connected to something) Cummins at ₹20.50 crore. In all the club against country debate that affects sports like football and cricket, what a player achieved for his nation adds immense value to his or her credentials (the abilities and experience that make someone suitable for a particular job or activity, or proof of someone’s abilities and experience), and that in turn means better money with clubs vying for the star athlete’s presence. The Aussies reaped (to get something, usually something good, as a result of your actions or other people’s actions) their rewards and many others too were recognised (accepted as being of a particular standard).

The build-up to the auction had its share of drama, as Mumbai Indians took Gujarat Titans skipper Hardik Pandya. He was subsequently (describe something that happened or existed after the time or event that has just been referred to) appointed as the Mumbai Indians’ captain and that meant Rohit Sharma’s chequered (having had both successful and unsuccessful periods in your past) history as an IPL captain had perhaps drawn to a close. There were cryptic (mysterious and difficult to understand) social media posts from Jasprit Bumrah and Suryakumar Yadav, and that added to the speculation (the activity of guessing possible answers to a question without having enough information to be certain) within the Mumbai Indians’ ranks. And since the IPL is seen as a mirror to the Indian team’s fortunes in T20, the presumption (the act of believing that something is true without having any proof) is that Pandya will continue to lead India in the shortest format. With the West Indies and the U.S. hosting next year’s ICC T20 World Cup, the latest auction and the 2024 IPL edition will have a lot of layered meanings attached to them. Seen in that light, unsung Indian players, plying their wares (any intangible items, as services or products of artistic or intellectual creativity, that are salable) in domestic cricket, being picked by various franchises, is also a reflection (a sign or result of something) of a young crop that may don the Indian blue sometime in the future. Players such as Sameer Rizvi, Kumar Kushagra, Shubham Dube, Swastik Chhikara and Ramandeep Singh found eager buyers. But the way Pakistan cricketers have been kept away from the IPL is also a pointer that sport cannot stay immune (protected from or unable to be influenced by something, esp. something bad) to geopolitical (connected with political activity as influenced by the physical features of a country or area) tensions.

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