‘Those retired from First Class should not be considered for IPL’

By Vijay Mohan Raj

The IPL Auction of 2022 brought back memories of the inaugural IPL in 2010 when I was part of the management of Deccan Chargers Hyderabad.

As it has happened every year since then there have been surprises whereby certain players received a bidding price beyond their ability and there were others even Internationals who remained unsold. At all times and even since 2010 I always felt that the remuneration paid to players was an obscene display of money power. This I say in comparison to the players who played first class and international cricket until the 80’s and even in the 90’s.

It could be a case of “Grapes are Sour” when we begin to compare what we earned from and because we played cricket in this era but then there was the satisfaction that the next generation will benefit from the advent of financial rewards and encourage more wards to take up the game as a profession.

It would be interesting for most to know the then BCCI philosophy and purpose of proposing a tournament format such as the IPL. In principal the franchisees were to be city based and the idea was to promote fan following in the Catchment Areas which were assigned by the BCCI to each franchisee. In 2010 the Deccan Chargers Hyderabad had Andhra and Orissa besides Hyderabad as the Catchment Area where in they were mandated to include a minimum number of players in the squad from these regions. This was essentially to motivate the respective Ranji Trophy players to upgrade their performances. It was also a motivation for others to excel in the State matches and thereby be part of this elite group.

In addition to the above, the focus was to market the merchandise and the Board had assigned every team colors and uniforms to such that the merchandise could be sold in the areas assigned to the franchise and create a hype amongst the local fans in order to support their Home team.

The 2022 auction has brought to the fore once again that there has been a complete turnaround from the ideology with which this tournament was envisaged.

In the first instance that is very glaring specially for the Hyderabad cricket fans is that there is no Hyderabad cricketer in the Sunrisers Hyderabad team which is supposedly our local franchise. Also they use the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium as their home ground and the resources of Hyderabad Cricket Association.

Also amongst the players who participated in the auction there are some who have not or only recently begun their first class career and have been picked up in the auction at a price that seems to be far excess of what they deserve while there are others who are experienced and current First Class and international cricketers who have been unsold.

While the method of conducting the auction could be debated but the aspect of ensuring that the franchise is mandated to have at least a certain number of local First Class players in the squad should be implemented.

When the IPL was introduced in 2010 there were fears that players would eventually focus on the shorter version of the game and First Class cricket would be affected. It was then emphasised that only those were playing first class cricket national or international could qualify for the auction. I would go the extent of suggesting that this should be amended to minimum two years of First Class cricket and 10 matches whichever is earlier. All those who have retired from First Class cricket should be disqualified from the auction.

My view is that earning money is good for the players but the system should calibrate a method that would ensure as much as possible that it is commensurate with their ability.

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