Mumbai Indians may have paid a whopping $1 million for Australian all-rounder Glenn Maxwell in the sixth auction of players for the forthcoming Indian Premier League (IPL) tournament. However, barring this, this time around, the nine IPL team owners seemed to have chosen not to spend big money on players. Among the reasons are the falling attraction of the IPL, increasing financial pressure, and the need to conserve cash for the bigger auction next year when contracts of iconic players expire.
The average money spent for new players on Sunday in Chennai was just $321,000 for the 37 players, a 27 per cent drop from the last auction held in January 2012. Last year, the average auction price for a player was about $440,000. The difference is even starker if inflation is taken into account. In 2008, the average price was $490,000, much higher than what the teams paid yesterday.
In 2011, when the IPL was at its peak with two new teams —Pune Warriors and Kochi Tuskers — coming up, the total number of teams was 10 and as many as 127 players were sold on an average price of $494,000.
This year, Maxwell was the only player to hit the $1 million mark. In 2011, there were nine players bagging $1 million or more, including Yusuf Pathan, for whom Kolkata Knight Riders paid $2.1 million. In 2012, three players hit the magic figure, including Ravindra Jadeja, who was picked for $2.4 million.
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The prudence of the teams can be reflected in the fact that the nine teams did not use the $24.59 million they have in their kitty under the rules to buy new players. This is nearly a fifth of the $112.5-million cap (each team has an upper limit of $12.5 million) that they can spend to buy players.
According to experts, most teams are gearing up for next year’s big-ticket auction, when contracts of many iconic players will expire and they will be up for grabs.
Indranil Das Blah, COO at KWAN Entertainment and Marketing Solutions, agrees: “It was a low-key auction with very few star players on the paper. Moreover, most of the franchisee owners have settled and were bidding as per the needs of the team and not going after players for name. Last year, there was correction and learning and they (team owners) have been cautious now about spending. But, wait for the next year, when all contracts will get over, including that of iconic players. It will be a much bigger auction.”