Despite their heroics Down Under, the England players failed to make a big impact in the IPL 4 auction because of their high base price and uncertainty over their availability. Only seven English players found takers.
Despite their heroics Down Under, the England players failed to make a big impact in the IPL 4 auction because of their high base price and uncertainty over their availability. Only seven English players found takers.
Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) owner Vijay Mallya, who had paid a record price of $1.55 million for Kevin Pietersen in 2009, pointed out why he did not bid for any of the English players in this auction.
“On an average, all the England players, I think, were overpriced. Had they been more aggressively priced in terms of their reserves, I think there would have been some bidding,” said Mallya.
“One dampener was the availability of the England players and clearly the preference, at least from my point of view, was to bid for players who will be 100 per cent available. So that’s one thing that I am sure influenced people while considering English players,” Mallya added.
Moreover, there was also uncertainty regarding the England players as the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) had sent their No-objection Certificates (NoC) only on Saturday morning.
Kings XI Punjab co-owner Ness Wadia echoed Mallya’s views. “In any business, you need to know and you need to have clarity. It wasn’t a deterrent because we were not sure if they were coming totally or not.
“We got strategy A, B or C but it would have helped their own cause if they would have let us know their decision earlier and it would have helped some more English players,” said Wadia.
“Even though they have done really well, I would agree with Vijay that some of the base prices were probably high,” Wadia added.
Mallya also defended the $9 million cap, though after the two days of auction he is left with only $360,000 to buy uncapped players.
“The IPL fundamentally started with a $5 million cap and that was before the first auction. All those franchises at that time discussed the concept of a cap and unanimously agreed that a cap was essential to maintain a level playing field amongst all franchisees,” recalled Mallya.
“For 2011, various combinations and permutations were discussed amongst franchisees in the same room and it was then agreed that $9 million would be appropriate. We cannot disagree with the concept and the need for a level playing field. There was near unanimity and I certainly was happy with the outcome,” he reiterated.
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