Lakh, Luck, Drama, and Drafting

The IPL Auction remains an event I simultaneously understand inherently, but also approach with absolute bewilderment each, and every year.

Perhaps it is my lack of understanding about who is actually good at T20 cricket, and therefore which players are demonstrably an asset to their team, and which signings might be described as luxury selections, used to help sell tickets and advertising space.

Undoubtedly, my lack of familiarity with lakh and crore adds to the confusion, in the same way I had little comprehension of what a shilling represented in one of my older relatives stories. It’s just not a currency system I am well versed in (nor need to be), and as such it is, quite literally, foreign to me.

None of this stops me from becoming engrossed in proceedings however.

Imagine my surprise when Alex Hales went unsold in the first round, despite an impressive showing in the Big Bash, while South Africa’s Chris Morris went for more than $2 million. Base prices and skill sets all play their part, but there’s an emotional element to proceedings also.

There was a universal sense of joy among English cricket fans when Moeen Ali was picked up by Chennai Super Kings, in a deal worth approximately £690,000, but equally seeing his international teammate, Adil Rashid, go unsold (again) elicited a sense of of disappointment and sadness on the leg spinners behalf.

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It’s proof that not everything always needs to make complete sense to someone for it to be fun, and while I admit it might be handy to know what a lakh or crore is worth in more familiar terms, or why Chris Morris is so valuable, sometimes not understanding these things can be just as bigger part of the draw – is Morris really worth that much? Or have Rajasthan gone overboard in a bidding war? I guess we’ll get to find out in the coming weeks, but already there’s a ‘narrative’ to latch on to.

Likewise, was it good business for the Royals to move on from Australian star Steve Smith? Can Glenn Maxwell help Bangalore improve this season? I’ve literally no idea. Maybe that’s part of the reason I don’t profess to care for the IPL very much, until it arrives each year and inevitably pulls me back in. I recognise all of these names, but I have limited comprehension of how well their teams will perform, or how much those individuals can help beyond the perfunctory ‘Maxwell is quite good at cricket, so his presence should help’.

They say ‘ignorance is bliss’ – and sometimes it is. I have zero expectations of the IPL this year, as I do every year. I don’t have ‘a team’ as such, I don’t have concerns over who will win, who will struggle, or who might be a dark horse. I just get to follow a competition, in a sport that I like, with almost zero baggage.

That’s quite liberating to be honest.