Sunil Gavaskar: IPL should look at reducing uncapped player retention fee below Rs 4 crore

Ever since the first year of the IPL, the auction of the players has been a life changer for plenty of players. While in the first couple of years there was a limit on what an uncapped Indian player could get, this was removed from the next year when it was found that an uncapped South African player had gone for a humongous amount. Naturally, questions were asked in the IPL Governing Council as to why uncapped Indian players should be restricted to a certain fee, while there was no such limit on the overseas uncapped players. The salary limit for the franchises was also increased, which emboldened them to bid unheard-of numbers for some players. That trend continues and with every increase in the salary cap for a franchise, we will continue to hear of some unknown players going for sums beyond reasonable understanding.

The usual answer to such jaw-dropping figures for uncapped players is that it’s market forces at work. As the season progresses, it is realised that yes, it may be market forces at the time of the auction, but it also comes with a healthy dollop of dreamy foolishness that quickly turns into disappointment and then anger at the hapless player, who had entered the auction at the lowest base price and hadn’t asked for the final amount but was simply fortunate to get it.

Yes, almost 10 times out of 10, it’s simply good, old luck, grandparents’ good deeds or some such omen that gets an uncapped player the crores he gets. The owners rely on their advisers, mostly computer nerds who have little idea of the game but have data at their fingertips and think that is the answer to a player’s ability. The data they get is from the many local State leagues that have mushroomed in the country. The scores from these leagues are fed into the computer, and that becomes the basis of their bidding war for a player. Most of them have never actually seen the player play or what the opposition is like. Was it challenging? Was it competitive? Was it demanding is something that doesn’t fit into the data at all. How big were the boundaries, how was the pitch and how were the weather conditions? This is another thing that doesn’t fit into the data banks perhaps. What was the match situation when runs were scored or when wickets were taken, are things that are hardly taken into account. If there are any former players as scouts, then their word perhaps doesn’t matter as much and, in any case, the scouts don’t sit at the auction table, do they?

Most of the guys who suddenly become crorepatis are overwhelmed, firstly by their sudden good fortune and then by the nervousness of getting to rub shoulders with those they have admired and perhaps never even dreamt of meeting. They are often not even part of their State’s squad of top 30 players. So now, to get into a group where there are great players in the game from different countries with different styles, approaches, and even different accents is never easy. In all these years, it is hard to recall an uncapped player bought for huge numbers who has justified his inclusion in the team. Maybe over the next couple of years, he may get a bit better with experience, but if he is playing in the same local league, then that chance of improvement doesn’t get much better.

What does happen is that if in the next auction his price comes down, then the pressure of expectations also comes down and the player plays a lot better. This season has shown that players bought for crores in the first cycle and now at a much reduced fee are showing better results. It could well be the experience of just being with some of the greats of the game, but more often than not, it is the reduced expectations with the lower fee that has eased the burden and allowed them to try and replicate what they do in their local city league.

A whole lot of the players bought for huge amounts simply fade away as their hunger and drive are satiated. To the franchises, it perhaps doesn’t matter as they may feel it’s good riddance, but Indian cricket takes a bit of a beating at the loss of any player whether he has been successful or not.

To accommodate Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who became an uncapped player before the auction last year, the limit was raised to Rs 4 crore.

Maybe it is time to relook at that and reduce it further so that Indian cricket does not lose out on talent that seems to flounder its way with the pressure when auctioned for crores.