The big IPL auction drama

Ok, let's face it.

There are only 2 reasons for any Pakistani player not to feature in the 3rd Season of the IPL:

1) The tension brewing politically between Pakistan and India. (no one can doubt this).

2) Because of the tension, none of the franchise owners want to put their money on Pakistani players. Visa issues, NOCs, security, what not!

How this came about could be anybody's guess. "Informal" government "orders" &, conversations of influence amongst franchisees, etc.

Yes, it's a body blow to the biggest commercial stage of cricket, not having the World T20 champions around.

Yes, it's wrong to pull the wool over the eyes of the public, by saying that it's the franchise owner's decision, yada yada.

It's all out in the open and it's obvious. Media channels - stop making it a big deal. The country isn't filled with fools. Everyone knows the truth - look at the 2 points above.

Instead, let's look at the difference it's making to people like:

1) Kieron Pollard - 750k USD. (Mumbai Indians)

2) Kemar Roach - 720K USD. (Deccan Chargers)

3) Wayne Parnell - 610K USD. (Delhi Daredevils)

Budding young cricketers who would be overjoyed when they get the news. It would be making a huge difference to their lives, yet, it's upto them to perform and keep their feet firmly rooted on the ground.

For more info about the remaining players sold, check this out http://www.cricinfo.com/ipl2010/content/current/story/445020.html

I'd imagine that Eoin Morgan's acquisition wouldn't make much of a difference to the Royal Challengers Bangalore. They have 4 overseas players who consistently play in the eleven. Kallis, Ross Taylor, Mark Boucher and Roelof Van der Merwe. It's difficult to think when he'd get to play in the eleven, unless there's an injury or if one of the players gets to rest for a game or two.

This would be my playing 11:

1) Uthappa

2) Kallis

3) Rahul Dravid

4) Ross Taylor

5) Manish Pandey

6) Virat Kohli

7) Mark Boucher

8) Roelof Van der Merwe

9) Praveen Kumar

10) R Vinay Kumar

11) Anil Kumble (c)

12th man: Abhimanyu Mithun

Have more opinions? Leave me a comment.

India vs Bangladesh - Day 3:

It's a pity that a leg spinner ends up bowling 5 no-balls in a test match, during a bowl of 16+ overs. Hope Amit Mishra irons these chinks out.

Overall, it has been an OK day for India. Bowling out Bangladesh for 242, (could have been much lesser) and getting to stumps at 122/1.

I was really baffled at Sehwag's inability to keep a thirdman, even after it was bombarded almost throughout the day. I guess we lost atleast 60-70 runs in that area overall.

I anticipate India to declare tomorrow, leave Bangladesh approximately 20-25 overs to bat - meaning, that India should be able to bat for 60+ overs, score around 250+ runs, leaving Bangladesh close to 400 to get. The minimum score to declare at (in case rain/bad light intervenes) would be 320, so that they can get in a good number of overs at the Bangladeshis by the end of day's play.

I still wouldn't rate Sehwag's captaincy or his ability to think. His dismissal and his captaincy today were proofs. It's difficult to expect anything else really. One would hope that he garners around 10% of sense on the way, and he'd make his already awesome record, look a lot more awesome and he'd win a lot more matches for India. I hope he figures a way out of the mess he almost created a day before the test match through his press conference.

All in all, an exciting day at the IPL auction, marred by controversy. I hope this settles down in a day or two, because there's no point to it.

Cheers,

V