It’s time for the IPL to plough back funds and invest in, nurture future generations
A heady mix of glitz, glamour and capital! That just about sums up the 2022 mega auction of the Indian Premier League (IPL). Ten teams with a maximum limit of Rs 90 crore each turned it into the new year’s second-biggest big-money affair, after the annual Budget. A total of over 600 players were up for grabs. Of them, 229 are capped players. The remaining 364 are uncapped, that is, they are yet to be selected by any of the teams. Pacer Avesh Khan created IPL history by becoming the most expensive uncapped player to be picked up for Rs 10 crore. Four other uncapped players sold for a total of Rs 33 crore. After the heavy-duty players were all auctioned, this is how the player-to-cash equation stood: Seven players fetched Rs83 crore in the Rs 10-crore plus bracket. Twenty-eight players were sold for Rs 212.5 crore, the minimum price being Rs 5crore. Between the two groups, the 35 players are worth Rs 305.5 crore. The allocation for sports in the Union Budget for 2022-23 went up more or less by the same amount — Rs 305.58 crore. The auction budget of IPL alone is Rs 900 crore which is just under a third of Rs 3062.6 crore, the annual Budget for the entire Sports Ministry. The IPL celebrated young cricketer Ishan Krishan going for a whopping Rs 15.25 crore — the highest price in the auction.
The Members of Parliament thumped their desks when the Union Finance Minister announced the Rs 305.58 crore hike in the sports budget to aid India’s preparations for the Birmingham Commonwealth Games and the Hangzhou Asian Games this year. Such is the contrast between the monetary fates of just one cricketer on the one hand, and the combined national contingents for the two international events on the other. This is not about big money flowing into cricket. This is about big money flowing only into top-end cricket. Since the idea of IPL in 2007, the game has metamorphosed into a money-making machine, making millionaires of anyone good enough to be part of it. But that does not mean that cricket infrastructure in the country has received a new fillip. Even today, Yashasvi Jaiswals of the future must be practising hard in the crowded maidans of Mumbai or local parks in Tier II and III cities, without sneakers for their feet or roofs on their heads. The deep involvement of the corporates in cricket reflects in the luxury lifestyles of successful cricketers but not in the availability of basic infrastructural facilities for the aspiring. Youngsters lack institutionalised junior programmes such as the clubs of the English Premier League, La Liga, NBA or NFL invest in to nurture future generations. Once enrolled, the players progress from schoolboy contracts to scholarships and professional contracts between nine to 16 years. If they fail to click, they take up allied professions like fitness, nutrition, video analysis, coaching or marketing. The IPL’s plough-back time is now.
