IPL auction: When Pawan Negi became bigger than Yuvraj Singh
Most people have a habit of flicking through channels on their television sets. And for those who dabble with stocks, watching the indices rise and fall forces one to look for good tips from the experts across various business channels.
On Saturday, the bourses were shut. Yet, the stock investors may have been pleasantly surprised watching an event called the Indian Premier League (IPL) auction live on television where the think tank behind the various franchises were involved in hectic buying.
Unlike the stock market, where you look at short term gains as well as buying good shares at a steal price, in the IPL buys, logic seems to go out of the window when "trading" is on.
At the end of the day, 94 players were bought for Rs 136 crore and most IPL franchise bosses had a smile on their faces. IPL boss Rajeev Shukla even went on to say the team owners have learnt over the years and buy players who are value for money! We will take this with a pinch of salt as someone like Pawan Negi turned out to be the richest Indian buy on Saturday as Delhi Daredevils shelled out a staggering Rs 8.5 crore for him.
In recent weeks, Negi has been in the news as he was picked for the T20 series against Sri Lanka and ICC World T20 at home. He was also picked for the Asia Cup in Bangladesh. Whether you believe in it or not, market dynamics does play a big part in a player getting picked up at the auction as Negi made headlines.
First things first. Negi is not a newcomer in the Delhi side. He has played for the franchise before and then moved to the Chennai Super KIngs (CSK) where he learnt a lot under MS Dhoni. His return to Delhi was part of the Rajasthan imprint on the Delhi Daredevils side where Rahul Dravid comes in as mentor.
Back to those who wonder why Negi commanded such a great price. He is capable of belting 25 runs off ten deliveries and as a left-arm spinner, bowls flat and economically. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to state that he is the mini-Yuvraj Singh.
Dravid is away in Bangladesh with the Indian under-19 team competing in the ICC under-19 World Cup. But Zubin Bharucha was there sitting in the auction and the Rajasthan Royals (RR) stamp was there on the Delhi side which is in rebuild mode. By picking Sam Billings, Joel Paris, Pratyush Singh, Khalil Ahmed and Akhil Serwadkar in the side, it became clear the strategy of Delhi Daredevils was to pick relatively unknown players like the old Rajasthan Royals did.
Where Delhi Daredevils erred in rebuilding the side was in not chasing Shane Watson, who was picked at Saturday’s record price of Rs 9.5 crores by Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB). Watson is one of the Australian cricketers who is having a great run these days. He did well at home and has already made headlines in newspapers back home after the auction.
Apart from being a swing bowler of great pedigree, Watson’s big, lusty hitting would have been very helpful for the Delhi side. Having not chased the Aussie, Delhi must consider themselves unlucky as the Daredevils' pace attack looks worn out.
Zaheer Khan has hardly played any cricket and to expect him to be fit for 14 matches in the IPL league stage would be unthinkable. At the same time, Mohammad Shami is also a bowler whose fitness is suspect. For that matter, Ashish Nehra would have been a good buy for Delhi.
The big teams have been smart in their buying strategy and Hyderabad did well to pick up Nehra, Abhimanyu Mithun and Yuvraj.
Royal Challengers Bangalore have been strengthened by the inclusion of Watson, Stuart Binny and Samuel Badree while Mumbai Indians didn’t need much. They were smart in picking up tearaway fast bowler Nathu Singh from Rajasthan.
He has had a great domestic season and the Rs 3.2 crores he has been offered is a dream come true for him as he comes from a very humble background.
Kolkata Knight Riders bought Manan Sharma, a bowler who has served skipper Gautam Gambhir well in the Ranji season.
The two new teams in the fray, led by MS Dhoni and Suresh Raina, don’t seem to have got their mix right after the initial purchases. Having said that, to think that Dhoni will be able to produce the same kind of results he did with the CSK is wishful thinking. He is a smart captain and in terms of motivating the new resources at his command, he has a challenging job to do.
(Courtesy of Mail Today.)