Column

The second season auction of the IPL must seem like devastating to the cricket followers in Australia.

Admittedly, in keeping with the hoopla surrounding the event I am being a tad melodramatic, but the fact that 15 of the 17 Aussies up for grabs were unsold surely tells a story that is unusual in the cricket universe, at least for the past 25 years.

Last year, for instance, every tit-bit Australian player/coach/support-staff was lapped up enthusiastically — not just in the IPL but also the ICL. Cricketers (and other associates) from Down Under were considered great value for money because they brought to the table very good skills, a strong work ethic and a great attitude to sport. This year has been different.

Michael Clarke’s last-minute withdrawal from the auction set the ball rolling in the opposite direction, as it were, on Friday morning itself. Clarke claimed his national commitments took priority over all else, which seemed like a noble realisation come too late. I buy the IPL’s line that Clarke opted out because of sour grapes when he found that his base demand price of one millions dollars was unlikely to be met.

This indicates two things: that the global meltdown has indeed hit the IPL, despite claims to the contrary from Lalit Modi et al. Or Clarke, vice-captain of Australia and widely regarded as one of the world’s best players, is just not good enough. That’s pretty damaging to pride. Add to this yet another defeat in an ODI by New Zealand, and there is enough reason for Don Bradman to turn in his grave at the thought of what is happening to his country’s extraordinary cricketing legacy.

Does this suggest the decline of a great empire? Prediction in cricket is fraught with pitfalls. Yet, something intriguing seems to be brewing. So, while the record-breaking bids for Kevin Pietersen and Andrew Flintoff may have hogged the headlines this time, the hapless fate of Aussies in this auction might have greater consequence where the history of the game is concerned.

Pietersen and Flintoff, of course, were the marquee ‘buys’ as was to be expected, and Jean Paul Duminy, the new star on the block, ‘cashed’ in on a terrific tour of Australia. The seemingly high prices paid for Mashrafe Mortaza and Tyron Henderson will have raised many eyebrows and questions, but my dissonance with the whole exercise stems from the fact that many international ‘nobodies’ can rake in top dollar while players of similar stature and perhaps better accomplishments in India’s domestic cricket are inadequately rewarded.

Free market dynamics make the auction system fascinating simply because at times they can be maddeningly whimsical. And yet, the IPL (as the ICL has shown) could be more benevolent in promoting young indigenous talent more aggressively, and rewarding them handsomely. Not just for the sake of it, but because young cricketers from India are now arguably emerging as the best skilled in the world, and in huge numbers.

Given that little push in confidence, these are the guys who could make India the best cricket nation in the world.