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Sports: As the forthcoming players’ auction promises all-time record deals given available Indian talent in the pool, many IPL team owners are going to rub their hands in glad anticipation after a glittering array of stars such as Rishabh Pant and KL Rahul have gone up for sale.
In the auction pool besides Pant and Rahul, there would be Shreyas Iyer, Arshdeep Singh, Washington Sundar, Mohammed Siraj, and Mohammed Shami.
All of them can spark a bidding war but let there be no confusion that Pant will be the cynosure of all eyes at the two-day event supposed to be held in the third week of December.
The Rs 75 crore retention cap on international players combined with the Right To Match cards really makes it an interesting auction as some teams that depleted their retention quota now will have to acquire at least 15 more players at a lesser cost.
Some others also are Punjab Kings, with a total of Rs 110.5 crore, and Royal Challengers Bengaluru, with Rs 83 crore, who will indulge in some wild bidding.
Never in an auction has anyone seen three IPL captains again in the pool. Those are Delhi Capitals’ Pant, Iyer from defending champions KKR, and Lucknow Super Giants’ KL Rahul.
In the case of Pant, more than money, he was not happy about his powers being curbed by GMR, the co-owners, who will run the show for the next two years. He was also, it is learnt, not happy with Hemang Badani as head coach and Y Venugopal Rao as Team Director.
In the case of Iyer, he thought himself for the way much that had gone as an IPL winning captain more than he used to draw. Notwithstanding his perception, not as of KKR heads do.
Rahul’s T20 approach would simply not work out well in line with the dreams LSG owners were aiming.
All three will certainly get deals but Pant could well emerge as the highest paid player of Indian Premier League if Punjab Kings, known for breaking banks every two years while shopping for a new captain and ‘X-factor’, decide to go for him.
“Rishabh’s actual bidding will begin at Rs 20 crore upwards. There are three teams that can go all guns blazing for him. One is Punjab Kings with Rs 110.5 crore to spend. They require a new captain and a brand. RCB has Rs 83 crore and LSG have Rs 69 crore and they also require a new captain,” a senior official of a franchise was quoted as saying by PTI.
“Gujarat Titans don’t need a captain but they also have Rs 69 crore. DC has Rs 73 crore but why would they go for someone, they released under acrimonious circumstances,” he added.
