IPL 2025 auction: Let’s not grudge the players’ big payday anymore

Over the years, the quirks of the IPL auction have ceased to amaze us. The two-day affair in Jeddah had, in comparison, gone according to script, with Rishabh Pant and Shreyas Iyer being the top two grocers—with salaries that would make some of the biggest price tags of the past squirm in comparison.

If the Rs 20 cr-plus bids for the Australian pace duo of Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins seemed almost obscene in the last mini auction, it has become the benchmark of highest pay-packet this year. The buzz, in fact, was that Pant could even break the 30 cr-plus barrier this time and came close to it while Shreyas Iyer had his calculated gamble of being a free agent paying off bigtime.

What, however, raised eyebrows was KKR buying back Venkatesh Iyer with 23.75 crores – which begged the question as to why they didn’t retain him in the first place in place of a youngster like Ramandeep Singh. The lanky batter from Madhya Pradesh who had served KKR well for last two seasons, had been their vice-captain during their title-winning campaign and looks set to be named as Iyer’s successor in 2025 season.

Williamson, Bairstow unsold

There was a time not long ago when one would sneer at the so called overpriced players – not to speak of several classy performers going unsold. The list is as baffling this time as it includes the likes of Kane Williamson, David Warner, Jonny Bairstow or Jimmy Anderson, who at 42 years, could have still carried a bagful of tricks in the allotted four overs. Or someone like a Rovman Powell, the current T20 captain for the West Indies going for Rs 1.10 crores to KKR or a multi-tasking Rachin Ravindra being snapped up by his old franchise Chennai Super Kings for ‘just’ Rs 4 cr.

However, after a 16-year journey during which the IPL has defied recession time and again – and a pandemic – it’s auction has also created it’s own dynamics. The brains at the auction table will tell you a great amount of homework has gone behind their plans for these two days, but then it’s not always cricketing reasons which determine the price tag of a player.

The not-so-subtle game of one-upmanship, not to speak of artificially boosting the price of an individual to deplete the purse of rivals take over at some stage – as one would expect in the culture of auction.

Personally speaking, I see nothing wrong in cricketers making money – irrespective of who they are. From Mohammed Siraj, Rinku Singh, Yashasvi Jaiswal to the wonderkid Vaibhav Raghuvanshi (who at 13 became the youngest to be sold at the IPL auction for Rs 1.1 cr), the lifechanging stories have become a part of the IPL folklore and helped the league live up to it’s catchline in Sanskrit which when translated means: ‘Where talent meets opportunity.’

Market forces at work

It’s the market economics which has helped the players’ fees skyrocket during the journey of the league – IPL’s valuation as a property, the profit sharing model between the BCCI and it’s franchises (courtesy the TV deals) have increased the sustainability of the teams and their purchasing power.

When someone like Gautam Gambhir commanded a price tag of Rs 11.4 crores ($ 2.4 million) from KKR in 2011, it was considered nothing short of being outrageous. Cut to the 2024 season, there are dime-a-dozen deals worth in that bracket with none batting an eyelid.

 There is no point in grudging it but one can’t help but feel that placing oneself in auction often compromises the self esteem of a player. Calculating a top cricketer’s worth in money is a subjective thing when someone like the Lucknow Super Giants owner Sanjeev Goenka says he had to ‘overpay slightly’ by about a crore to get Pant – then it sets you thinking. The upbeat industry baron also hoped that fans will be happy with signing.  

Did he ‘overpay’ for a luxury apartment or a generational talent in Indian cricket? That's the point to ponder!