Moneyball: IPL 10 The I, Me, Myself Edition

In January 2011, the Pathan brothers hit a jackpot. It was a Rs 18.4 crore one; the combined price that the Kolkata Knight Riders and Delhi Daredevils franchises paid for the duo to ply their trade in the fourth edition of the Indian Premier League. While Yusuf was picked up for a whopping Rs 9.7 crore by Shah Rukh Khan’s team, Irfan received a bid of Rs 8.7 crore from the Daredevils, almost a 10-fold rise from his base price of Rs 92 lakh. The family’s joy knew no bounds and a beaming father even mentioned a century that Yusuf blasted against New Zealand a month ago as one of the triggers for the auction war for his son.

It is a different story in the milestone 10th edition of the world’s richest cricket league. Irfan Pathan will be at home with family watching the 50-day extravaganza unfold on television, while Yusuf still continues to be an integral part of the KKR first 11, but at a relatively modest fee of Rs 3.25 crore.

Having been out of the Indian team for more than five years now, and with the likelihood of all players from all IPL teams being thrown into the auction pool for the 2018 edition, Yusuf will be concentrating primarily on only one thing during the ongoing edition — getting a string of good scores to ensure a decent bid during the 2018 auction, and in the process donning the Indian colours again as the Champions Trophy is round the corner. Which means that he has to perform admirably in the initial 5-6 matches for KKR so that the captain and the management team do not have to look for alternatives and kill any chance of him piling up the runs to interest the franchises.

With these factors gaining importance, Yusuf is going to be, for want of a better word, a “selfish” player during this edition. At 34, with age on his wrong side and a plethora of T20 experts emerging every day from all corners of the country, Yusuf will be tormented by the thought of his brother cooling his heels in the discomfort of his drawing room, others who just about sneaked into this year’s edition (read Ishant Sharma, Imran Tahir), and the many who did not make it.

I have used Yusuf as an example to highlight the dilemma that many an Indian player and a few foreign players are going to face while they turn up for their franchise. These would also include superstars like a Chris Gayle, Brendon McCullum, Glen Maxwell, David Miller. Each will have to put up a more-than-decent show to be deemed valuable going forward. But they have a huge advantage compared to the Indians as they can move around the world participating in as many leagues as they want as long as national duty is given top priority.

For the Indians, the problem is aggravated by the fact that they are not allowed by the BCCI to play in any other league anywhere in the world, even in a non-competitive market like Hong Kong. Ironically, it was the protagonist of this column, Yusuf, who suffered in this case. The BCCI initially allowed the hard-hitting all-rounder to play in the DTC Hong Kong T20 Blitz in March this year, but withdrew the permission days later realising that it would set a precedent leaving them to deal with a flood of applications for similar rights. The franchise Kowloon Cantons had, in their enthusiasm, even unveiled the player, and Yusuf had thanked both the BCCI and the Baroda Cricket Association for allowing him to be the first Indian player in a foreign league. All a tad too early. The Indian players thus have only the IPL to sustain them through the year, along with a few regional T20 leagues.

With these ground realities in place, expect a Yuvraj Singh, Harbhajan Singh, Robin Uthappa, Dinesh Karthik, to name just a few, having personal achievements foremost on their mind when they enter the field. Each one is a veteran in the T20 league, but have seen how their fortunes can fluctuate each season.

Ask Yuvraj, who has to be content with Rs 7 crore, which is no small money, but not juicy for someone who has tasted a Rs 16-crore bid. Similarly, Karthik now takes the field with a Rs 2.3-crore pay cheque, compared to Rs 12.5 crore that the Daredevils showered on him just three years ago. This is like an employee being reviewed after every assignment and a pay hike or cut handed out depending on performance. But unlike office job, the pressure of performing well in a team sport with personal milestones on your mind is a different ballgame. With a total of Rs 528 crore available as salary each season, each player will be eyeing a better share of this pie next year. With the top 5 players taking home around Rs 40 crore of the Rs 66 crore available with each team, the remaining 20-odd players have to fight for just 40 per cent of the purse. This includes upcoming star performers from across most cricket-playing nations, including newbies like Afghanistan, who have started their innings in IPL with two players this edition. Or a superstar like Ben Stokes, who just wiped out Rs 14.5 crore from Rising Pune Supergiant’s salary outlay in a jiffy, leaving not much for any others in the fray.

It is a lot of money at stake, and for all the T20 specialists, this IPL edition is almost the final play for future selection and the riches that follow. And if you are not part of the Indian team, the opportunities for impressing franchise managements in the coming months are zilch. Which means Yusuf, or many other likes him, will have no century against another nation to bolster their case when “The Hammerman” Richard Madley picks names from the auction bowl in 2018.

(CP Thomas is a co-founder of SportzPower and The Fan Garage)