The IPL auctions for 2010 season are about to start. And this time the franchises will have a pool of 66 players from across the world to choose from. The list even includes a player from Canada. Initially, no Englishman featured in the list. However IPL Commissioner Lalit Modi revamped the list to include them. The auctions start today.
Every year the auctions drama catches every ones attention. The curiosity to know how much each player sold for creates a feverish buzz in the media. And every year, at the time of auctions, a few people, like me, keep rambling about how the concept of bidding for players is not in keeping with the ethics behind the game.
I accept that cricketers making money by playing the game they love is not morally wrong. My only concern is whether this trend will open a Pandora’s box in the coming years. Already, a lot has been said and written on this topic year after year, but they all seem to have fallen on deaf years. Consider this, if the only reason for the auctions was to help players make money, then a flat price, arrived at by consensus among franchises should be fixed for each player and let other factors like player’s interest determine the side a player plays in. Performance based hikes should be granted by franchises. This way, if a franchise is not forth-coming by announcing hikes, less players will prefer it and the team will ultimately loose sheen. I strongly believe that current system of bidding is not the right way. The concept of bidding looks an obvious ploy by the BCCI to milk as much money as it can from cash-rich franchises.
Cricket is a gentleman’s sport. The game evolved from lazy barristers stroking the ball to fit athletes competing hard on, the field. This evolution explains why money is important in this sport. Also, performance and performers need to be rewarded. But issues relating to money have to be dealt with cautiously. The BCCI in its excitement to market the IPL has taken the wrong route in selling the players so blatantly.
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Here, I attempt to unravel the enigma that the Indian cricket captain M.S. Dhoni, is. Well, with his unique batting and burly physique, Dhoni defied all norms to make it to the top level. He spent his early years playing in India’s dynamic domestic circuit and made his bones as a gutsy and a determined cricketer. That was the time probably, that many prodigies made their debut as a teenage sensation and later faded out. Dhoni, was playing only List A, and not a very popular cricketer at that level also. So, what happened, what caused his transition from an unknown player to a storm at the international level, and later metamorphose into what he is now.