The countdown begins for World’s Top billed Cricket League i.e. Indian Premier League.
The Premier League is generally considered to be the highest-profile showcase in the world for Twenty20 (T20) cricket; this will be the seventh season of the IPL. There will be eight teams playing this year, one less than 2013 after the withdrawal of Pune Warriors India. IPL 2014 is already in news because of alleged involvement in the betting scandal; the Chennai Super Kings had set up a benchmark as a team but there are serious question marks on team’s integrity.
We might think billion times before worshipping a cricketer, before praising a team and before choosing our role models. Cricket lovers are hurt, the trust factor is lost. Has Cricket lost its innocence?
There is also a Good News for the Indian Cricket Fans that 60-70 percent of matches will be held in India only, as the election commission announced the date of Lok Sabha polls which will be held from April 7 to May 12. There is also a possibility of shifting the initial leg of the tournament to UAE or Bangladesh and the rest of the tournament will be held in India after the Lok Sabha elections are over.
There are major surprises in auction this year both with capped and uncapped players like Yuvraj Singh leading the front with INR 14 crores, sold to Royal Challengers Bangalore, Dinesh Karthik auctioned to Delhi Daredevils for INR 12.5 crores, Kevin Pietersen sold to Delhi Daredevils for INR 9 crores, Mitchell Johnson sold to Kings XI Punjab for INR 6.5 crores.
Karn Sharma bagged the highest among the uncapped players as Sunrisers Hyderabad paid 3.75 crore to retain him, while Rishi Dhawan was the second best with 3 crore paid for him by Kings XI Punjab.
The IPL auction definitely made a few more millionaires 🙂
Top Picks of the season:
Royal Challengers Bangalore- Yuvraj Singh (14 crore), Starc (5 crore), Morkel (2.4 crore)
Kolkata Knight Riders- Kallis (5.5 crore), Piyush Chawla (4.25 crore), Uthappa (5crore)
Kings XI Punjab- Johnson (6.5 crore), Sehwag (3.2 crore), Bailey (3.25 crore)
Chennai Super Kings- Faf Du Plesis (4.75 crore), Dwayne Smith (4.5 crore), McCullum (3.25 crore)
Delhi Daredevils- Dinesh Karthik (12.5 crore), Pietersen (9 crore), Murali Vijay (5 crore), Coulter-Nile(4.24 crore)
Rajasthan Royals- Steve Smith (4 crore), Brad Hodge (2.4 crore)
Mumbai Indians- Mike Hussey (5 crore), Ojha (3.25 crore), Zaheer Khan (2.6 crore)
Sunrisers Hyderabad- Warner (5.5 crore), Amit Mishra (4.75 crore), Finch (4 crore)
The following is a list of some top players who went unsold in the IPL 7 auctions.
IPL has had its fair share of controversies. Sometimes so much that it takes away the beauty of the gentlemen’s game. The fixing controversies have tarnished the image of not just IPL but Indian cricket as well. IPL and controversies are like politics and corruption. Hopefully it won’t be the case in 2014.
PS: The article is authored by CricBol.com intern Aakash Arora.