In its early years, no one quite knew what to make of the Indian Premier League (IPL) auction. The first, before the 2008 season, was very much a step into the unknown, and some of the completely arbitrary sums paid for players caused schisms in dressing rooms, with even several Australian cricketers talking of the impact the ‘valuations’ had on their relationships with fellow professionals.
It was impossible to escape the notion, however, that subsequent mini-auctions were often about some team owners swanning around and buys made based on individual whims and fancies. There seemed little method to the madness, and smart buys based on sports analytics seemed a world away.
The players too were caught up in the hype. With so many acquisitions seemingly off the cuff, it wasn’t unheard of for players – especially overseas ones – to call journalists they knew to ask if they could ‘put in a word’ with coaches or team owners they knew. There were enough bizarre buys too to know that the whole process was very much hit and miss.
It’s a measure of how much things have changed that most franchises would have arrived in Jeddah with a longlist of players they want to buy, and a very clear auction strategy. For every position in the line-up, they will have two or more options lined up – not just a plan B, but even a C and D in some cases.
And 17 years on from the first auction, which had most scratching their heads, it is now very much an event in itself. Once the first set comes up on Sunday, there will be more people watching than there would be for most international matches. The fortunes of players like Rishabh Pant, KL Rahul and Mitchell Starc will be followed by millions, and there will be as much coverage of the auction as there is of India’s feisty effort against Australia in Perth.
It helps perhaps that the IPL auction is utterly unique. European football’s transfer window stretches across more than two months, and not two days, so the attention is diluted over a long period. In the USA, draft day in the spring is eagerly awaited, especially when it comes to the NFL (American Football) and the NBA (basketball). But those drafts only involve college athletes – high school, in rare cases – and not established stars like in the IPL.
For the franchises, many of whom have already branched out into different territories, an auction in Saudi offers an opportunity to explore another frontier. No one has recently invested more money in sport than the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and this two-day event could well be the precursor to the IPL one day having a mini-season, or more, in the country.
All that is in the future. But on Sunday, the eyes of the world will be watching, even from Perth, as some of the biggest names in the sport come under the auctioneer’s anvil again.