IPL hammer man : success stories of Ben Stokes & T Natarajan

Many of us would still remember that night #11.10 pm on 3^rd April 2016 at Eden Gardens – the T20 Finals between West Indies & England.  Chasing 156, WI (Carlos Brathwaite 8  & Marlon Samuels 79) were 129/6 – 27 required off 12.  Chris Jordan the bowler – 8 runs off that and 19 required of 6 deliveries …. Brathwaite heaved over deep backward for a six; 2^nd hit over long on’ 3^rd over long off – and 4^th too went for a six, this time over deep midwicket – the bowler was naturally distraught !!  ~ and he is celebrating today !!!!

It is IPL time and the unsold players include : Martin Guptill; Pujara, Amla, George Bailey, Mike & David  Hussey, Brad Haddin, Manoj tiwary, Dilshan, Ravi Bopara, Nathan Lyon, Ajantha Mendis, Rahul Sharma, Pragyan Ojha, Darren Bravo, Abhinav Mukund, Sean Abbot, Richard Levi, Shaun Tait, .. .. .. .. and one man who has played in all IPL auction – is Richard Madley, who conducted 10^th IPL auction today at Bengaluru.

Richard Madley the hammerman is a known figure.  The 59-year-old Welshman, a father of three, worked his way from being a floor sweeper at a London auction house. His web describes him to be a  second generation auctioneer ! who hails from Wales. A former junior international hockey player and Surrey league cricketer Richard joined the well regarded auction house of Phillips Son and Neale in New Bond Street in 1978. Following a distinguished 20 year spell at Phillips Richard was to join Christie’s as President of Christie’s East, New York – the liveliest auction house in North America – and he mints money in a place where perhaps everyone else knows more of the product that he is promoting sale !!

The much touted IPL 2017 auction occurred today.  Each team was assigned a specific budget to make their bids on players. Kings XI Punjab has the highest purse of Rs.23.35 crore, on the other hand, Mumbai Indians had the lowest purse of Rs 11.555 crore.  In the VIVO Indian Premier League Player Auction 2017 as many as 66 players were  bought by eight teams including 27 overseas players. On a day that witnessed intense bidding, a total of INR 91.15 Crore was spent. History was created as for the first time ever, players from Afghanistan were listed for the auctions. Rashid Khan, 18, fetched a whopping INR 4 crore as the teams pitched in hard for the Afghan leg-spinner with Sunrisers Hyderabad being the eventual winners.

The distraught man in 1^st para, English all-rounder Ben Stokes generated tremendous interest and excitement with most teams willing to empty their purse. In the end, Rising Pune Supergiant bought Stokes for a massive INR 14,50,00,000. Stokes became the most expensive overseas player ever to feature in the IPL.  Tamilnadu left-arm medium fast, T Natarajan was bought for 30 times his base price, attracting an INR 3 crore. The lone UAE cricketer, Chirag Suri was bought by the Gujarat Lions.  This time, the Australians were less - Mitchell Johnson to Mumbai Indians at his base price of INR 2 crore (USD 300,000 approx), and Cummins to Delhi. More Australians - Nathan Coulter-Nile, Billy Stanlake, Dan Christian and Ben Laughlin - were bought in the second round of bidding after lunch. Coulter-Nile was bought by Kolkata Knight Riders for INR 3.5 crore (USD 520,00 approx.) while Stanlake, Christian and Laughlin went at base prices.

T Natarajan started playing tennis ball star for his local team in Chinnappampatti, a hamlet near Salem.  He moved  to Chennai and rose to  play for Vijay CC and Jolly Rovers, two of the more prominent clubs in Tamil Nadu Cricket Association's robust first-division league. Two years in league cricket was enough for the state selectors to thrust him into the first-class structure. He made his debut against Bengal in the 2015-16 Ranji Trophy; sooner was reported for a suspect action, leaving him with the unenviable task of remodeling it, undergoing tests and trying to find his way back.  Tamil Nadu Premier League provided fresh breather as he shone for Dindigul Dragons.  He for sure is celebrating his #3 crore while another left arm seamer, 27 year old Aniket Choudhary was bought by  Royal Challengers Bangalore for INR 2 crore from a base price of INR 10 lakh.

England fast bowler Tymal Mills also set a new record price for a specialist bowler: he was the second most expensive sale, bought by Royal Challengers Bangalore for INR 12 crore (USD 1.8 million approx). Allrounder Chris Woakes was the third England player to get a hefty payday; he was bought by Kolkata Knight Riders for INR 4.2 crore (USD 625,000 approx). Three other England players bought - all at base price - were: batsman Eoin Morgan for INR 2 crore (USD 300,000 approx) to Kings XI Punjab, batsman Jason Roy for INR 1 crore (USD 150,000) to Gujarat Lions, and allrounder Chris Jordan for INR 50 lakhs (USD 74,000) to Sunrisers Hyderabad. While demand for England players was expected, Afghanistan allrounder Mohammad Nabi, 18-year-old legspinner Rashid Khan, and UAE batsman Chirag Suri became the first Associate players after Netherlands' Ryan ten Doeschate to get an IPL bid.

With regards – S. Sampathkumar

20^th Feb 2017.