IPL springs surprises

The run-up to the players’ auction for the tenth season of Indian Premier League (IPL) was not devoid of the drama that precedes the annual extravaganza. On the completion of the auction in the Garden City, Englishman Ben Stokes emerged as the costliest player in the event’s history.

On both occasions, the newsmaker was IPL’s newest entrant, Rising Pune Supergiants (RPS). In a major jolt to the fans, Pune announced replacement of India’s most successful ODI captain, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, with incumbent Australian skipper Steve Smith.

It is unfortunate that Dhoni has been losing out at every level, which is a huge letdown from the authorities. The jackpot that Stokes has landed up with is indicative of how at times franchise owners, for all their business sense, fail to match investment with the potentialities.

Stokes is a bad investment despite the aura the UK media has built around him. Some seasons back Glenn Maxwell also ended up as one who was not value for money.

One gets the feeling that somehow the seriousness that was the hallmark of the initial seasons is gradually being eroded, because it has become more of a business discussion and less of serious bidding for players of proven merit or those whose latent talent could explode during the championship.

From the Indian point of view, it has been a mixed bag in that old warhorse Ishant Sharma has been left in the cold while two relatively unheralded ones like Mohd Siraj from Hyderabad and Thangarasu Natarajan from Tamil Nadu have had a welcome shot in the arm.

They fully deserved the recognition as they come from families, which found it difficult to make ends meet. In a way, this is precisely what the IPL founder Lalit Modi had envisioned years back – the under-privileged getting opportunities to rub shoulders with the living legends and proving a point or two.

Many players from India and abroad have earned national calls based on their exploits in the shortest form of the game. While the likes of Siraj are in the millionaires club, the dreams of several others lie shattered because despite an impressive track-record, there have been no takers for someone like Karn Sharma.

Meanwhile, whispers are doing the rounds over a glaring development that may not exactly be a good advertisement for the game. Years ago a decision was taken to bar players from Pakistan ostensibly because of diplomatic reasons.

The question that is being raised, and not without reason, revolves around the player who should have been among the most sought after- Imran Tahir. One wonders why his credentials were overlooked when the fact of the matter is that he is a match-winner like no other.

He is the world’s best T20 exponent. Has he been shunted because he was born in Lahore and wore a T-shirt that glorified “Dil Dil Pakistan” singer and writer Junaid Jamshed? Why Pathan was not considered also remains a mystery. Someone somewhere has to do a lot of explanations before such doubts erupt into serious debates.