Indian Premier League Cricket wrapped up the wildest free agency in professional sports with the conclusion of the two-day IPL Auction. It was an event where almost every player in the league was a free agent, and up for sale to the highest bidder at once.
The 6 weirdest things from the 2018 IPL cricket auction
What a weekend it was.
Photo credit should read MANJUNATH KIRAN/AFP/Getty Images
James Dator has been covering a wide range of sports for SB Nation for over a decade, with a special focus on the NFL.
It was the confluence of the real world and fantasy sports running together in a wholly surreal way. The IPL’s 10-year cycle allowed this to happen, and the weekend promised a lot of very weird things. Thankfully we were not denied.
The Chennai Super Kings went old ... really old.
If you can start a team from scratch conventional wisdom says you’d secure as much young, hungry talent as possible. Chennai did the exact opposite. The entire core of the team is over 30 years old, with only a few players under 30 expected to get significant play time, and even then they’re 28 years old and above.
It’s not just how they bought, but WHO they bought. 34-year-old Dwayne Bravo, 36-year-old Shane Watson, 38-year-old Imran Tahir — all to be under the competent-but-aging eye of captain MS Dhoni, who is a spry 36.
Since I mentioned Dwayne Bravo’s name I’m contractually obligated to embed his music video “Champion,” an underrated 2016 banger that never got its due.
Now, back to Chennai. Sure, they bought some promising young players from India on the back-end of the auction, but they’ll barely play. The methodology here is clear: Chennai is back after being banned for two years of match fixing, and they want an immediate pop with a ton of big names — who cares if they were all at their brightest around 2010.
Pour one out for poor Martin Guptill.
Let me tell you a fun little thing that can happen during the IPL auction. Let’s say a player goes up for bid and nobody wants him. Then, later that night a team changes its mind. Maybe they missed out on a target, or perhaps someone they passed up looks a lot better now. The team can request to have them added back to the auction the following day, where they’re presumably purchased.
Enter New Zealander Martin Guptill. He went unsold on Day 1 of the auction, but it’s okay — because it was announced he’d be back up for bidding on Day 2. Then when Guptill was back up for sale he went unsold ... again. The poor guy watched twice in two days as every team in the league decided they didn’t want him.
Chris Gayle finally got bought after THREE times up for bid.
It’s not as sad as poor Martin Guptill, but needing three chances to select Chris Gayle is a travesty — if for this reason alone.
Wait for it ...
Rajasthan Royals spent BIG.
There was always an expectation that Rajasthan would look to make a splash after also coming back from a ban for match fixing, but, goodness, they went big into the auction.
- Ben Stokes: $2.0M
- Steve Smith: $1.9M
- Sanju Samson: $1.3M
- Jofra Archer: $1.1M
The Royals made Stokes the highest-paid player in the auction, and followed up with heavy-hitter after heavy-hitter to immediately transform themselves into a must-watch team overnight.
“Right to Match” cards were a thing ... and they were super fun.
This auction was the first that used the “Right To Match” (RTM) system and it was an incredible addition. Teams had a limited number of RTM “cards” they could turn in that would immediately match a bid from a team and divert a player’s rights to their own, assuming the player was on their team the previous season.
It opened up incredible gamesmanship. Teams could drive up bidding in the hopes someone would burn a RTM card then poach another player, teams could hold their cards strategically — it was truly awesome to see. Fans would hang on purchases waiting to see if an RTM card would be used and after two days a total of 25 cards were spent.
I want to see this again, just don’t expand it. If anything give out fewer cards.
Sandeep Lamichane made history.
The 17-year-old leg-break googly bowler became the first player from Nepal ever to be selected to an Indian professional team when the Delhi Daredevils purchased him. Lamichane will have time to learn inside the system and won’t play much — but it’s still awesome.
Final thoughts ...
The IPL Auction could have had a lot more drama, but we got some serious weirdness. The league was definitely shaken up by the event and some smart new additions (like RTM cards) made it more entertaining. This is still one of the wildest things that can happen in professional sports, and so much dang fun.
Remember to pour one out for poor Guptill. Dude should have been bought.
