The IPL auction 2013 was a relatively low key affair with most of the franchisees having a settled squad and only a few making all out effort to strengthen their squad. The highlight of this auction was the low key players getting big money, the players who were really unheard of outside their home countries.
For example,
- Chris Morris
- Kane Richardson
- Akila Dhananjaya who made it big in SLPL and played a couple of games in World T20, but since has been warming benches for SL team.
A lot of players went "unsold" like:
- Aaron Finch
- Ravi Bopara
- Matt Prior
- Suraj Randiv
- Martin Guptill
- Test sensation Vernon Philander
The Aussie greats Michael Clarke and Ricky Ponting were picked up for their base prices, although none of them are hot T20 commodities, it remains to be seen if Mumbai Indians play Ricky Ponting alonside their most famous player, Sachin Tendulkar of India.
Michael Clarke had retired from T20 format couple of years ago and is not a typical T20 player. However he might offer some valuable tips to the Pune Warriors captain, most likely Yuvraj Singh.
The defending champions were the most complacent side as they bid for only two players:
Sachitra Senanayake and Ryan McLaren.
Mumbai Indians again made the news by bidding a million USD for Glenn Maxwell who celebrated the day by 4/63 and a first ball duck against West Indies. They also bid successfully for Ricky Ponting, Phil Hughes and Nathan Coulter Nile, all Aussies. And the neighbouring Jacob Oram.
Kings XI Punjab also bid for only 2 players in Manpreet Gony and Luke Pomerbausch.
Wooden spoon holders Pune bid for Ajantha Mendis, the guy who has a formidable T20 record (albeit against minnows), Kane Richardson and over hyped Abhishek Nayar.
Sunrisers Hyderabad, the new name for now defunct Dhakkan Fusers got a few players in their kitty too, but none of them impact players. Sudeep Tyagi, Darren Sammy, Thissara Pereira, Nathan McCullum etc. Serious doubts exist if new name and new management might improve the fortunes of the Hyderabad team or they continue to disappoint like last 2 seasons.
Uncle Srini proved his coach Stephen Fleming wrong who had said his franchisee wont go for foreign players. Instead CSK went for 5 foreign players -- Dirk Nannes, who as per BCC! has good chance to earn an India cap, Akila Dhana....., Jason Holder of WI, Chris Morris of SA and Ben Laughlin of Australia.
Rajasthan Royals went in for few players too and the players who'd now be Rajputs will be James Faulkner, Fiddy Edwards and Kushal (or Kaushal) Pereira (or Pareira) of SL.
Uncle Mallaya does not have money to revive his defunct Kingfisher airlines or pay the salary to pilots and other cabin crew, for sure he has lots of money to choose a Kingfisher calendar girl and few players like RP Singh etc.
I do not care who wins IPL or who does not. I also do not care which player makes it big or which player fails. I worry about the fate of Indian cricket when few very ordinary players like Ravinder Jadeja, Rohit Sharma and R Ashvin make it big in IPL and on back of those strong performances continue to play for India. That, to me, is the saddest aspect of IPL.
