The Bharateeya cricketers would not earn enough money in their lifetime to live with ease. Though the money started pouring in to cricket in the 1990s, it actually started raining in a decade ago with the advent of IPL. Those who benefit for large sums are surprised. Today, those who just begin their career in cricket become crorepati in no time. Whether IPL has brought forth the best of talents in cricket is a debatable issue, but it has made the players rich beyond imagination is very true. Nobody would disagree with this fact. IPL has made many of young cricketers rich overnight. And the list grows with each session. Most ironical part of this is the young players outsmart the oldies in monetary gains. And the reason for this is the IPL format that requires each team to include some Under-19 players compulsorily. This requires each team to include some U-19 players who would maintain the balance of the team. This has also led to exposure to the younger talents in the game.
The ninth session of IPL has also made many young players crorepatis through auction. Prominent amongst them are Pawan Negi, Nathu Singh, Deepak Hoodda, Rishabh Pant, Karunal Pandyan, and Murugan Ashvin. They left behind stalwarts like Aaron Finch and Boland. Pawan Negi leads the tally amongst these young players. He was bought by Delhi Daredevils for 8.5 crore and thus this made him the highly paid player among the Bharateeya players. But whether they play for the Bharateeya team is doubtful. Last year KC Carriappa was signed by Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) for Rs 2.6 crore. But he could not show any charisma in 2015 so KKR released him. He is signed this year too but only for Rs 80 lakh. He was signed by Kings XI Punjab.
The general perception regarding IPL is that it does not rate the franchisee players according to their merit. This is probably the reason why some stalwart players play with meagre sums and those like Pawan Negi get hefty sums in crores without showing any talent. This is the reason why a good number of players could not make it up to the IPL inspite of their best show at home pitch. This endorses the perception that players are not selected on their merit basis and this is the reason for disappearance of these players after a few matches. We will be discussing some of the crorepati players of this IPL season.
Pawan Negi: He is one amongst those who become crorepati overnight. Within a couple of days of becoming a crorepati player, he is admitted to the Bharateeya Cricket team. He is selected to play the T-20 World Cup next month and Asia Cup to be held at the end of the month. Negi comes from a middle class family and belongs to Almoda in Uttarkhand. But he studied in Delhi’s Sadiq Nagar area. He was a student of DPS Mathura Road, New Delhi. He was associated with IPL 2011. In 2014, he was with Delhi Daredevils and in 2015 he played for Chennai Superkings. But in these four years he got the chance to play only three matches. He was in the news for pocketing five wickets in 2014 Champion’s League final. He sent five players of Kolkata Knight Riders to pavilion. He made 173 runs in nine matches of Vijay Hazare trophy this year and took 16 wickets. The price Pawan was paid this year cannot be justified on any ground but each franchisee has its own intentions and objectives to keep players with it. Mahendra Singh Dhoni, captain of Rising Pune Supergiants and coach Stephen Fleming have planned to induct Pawan in their team as he was earlier with Chennai Super Kings. They had made up their mind to pay uto Rs 8 crore to this player with a base price of Rs 30 lakh. The auction went up to Rs 8.5 crore as Delhi Daredevils too were interested in him. Delhi Daredevils CEO Hemant Dua said, “Yes, this is a big amount. Pune also wanted to buy him that shows how capable he is. Stephen Flemings knows about his capacity and talent as he had been his coach in Chennai…”
Nathu Singh: The story of Nathu Singh who was bought for Rs 3.2 crore by Mumbai Indians is very interesting. Four years ago a factory worker Bharat Singh went to a moneylender and borrowed Rs 10,000 so that he could put his son Nathu Singh in a cricket academy in Rajasthan. Now the son has made his father a crorepati. Nathu Singh joined the Rajasthan Ranji Team last October and took seven wickets against a match with Delhi including the wicket of captain Gautam Gambhir. His capacity to bowl with a speed of 140 km per hour consistently makes him different from others. The seven wickets included that of the captain Gautam Gambhir’s. He was selected for Board’s XI against South Africa and this was the time the teams eyed this young promising player. Three years ago he used to play cricket with soft ball in his area. But when he was admitted to Surana Academy for which his father borrowed Rs 10,000, the spark in him was noticed and he was included in Rajasthan U-19 team. Nathu Singh’s father paid the fees of the academy but had no money to buy shoes and kit. In the beginning Nathu Singh used to wear the shoes of his seniors and they helped him in all the possible ways. Later when he went to MRF Pace Academy, Glenn McGrath made him an expert bowler and now he is considered as future pace bowler of Bharateeya team.
Rishabh Pant : Recently he slammed the fastest half century in the U-19 World Cup 2016 which helped him in getting a big amount in the IPL auction. He was booked for Rs 1.9 crore by the Delhi Daredevils hours after he scored his maiden ton for Bharat in the same tournament. He began his career last year with Ranji match and became a crorepati in a short span. He comes from a middleclass family from Roorkee. His father wanted him to become a doctor or an engineer but looking at his interest in cricket he shifted to Jaipur so that his son can get the facility of training. However, a disappointed Rishabh came to Delhi and joined Tarak Sinha academy. Here he flourished as the best opening batsman and wicketkeeper. Adam Gilchrist is his role model. He believes in playing flamboyantly like Sehwag and proved his temperament by hitting 50 runs in just 19 balls against Nepal in U-19 World Cup 2016.
Murugan Ashwin : Tamil Nadu’s leg spinner Murugan Ashwin took 10 wickets this year in Syed Mushtaq Ali T-20 tournaments at the economy rate of 5.52 in six matches. After this he knew for sure that he would be picked up by any franchisee for the IPL, but that he would fetch Rs 4.5 crore was beyond his imaginations. He was booked by Rising Pune Supergiants. M Ashwin has no relation with Ravichandran Ashwin except that both belong to Tamil Nadu and both are engineering graduates of Shibvasubraniam Nadar College of Engineering. He is son of Tamil writer Ila Murugan. IPL auction has made him a star overnight.
Karunal Pandya : Younger brother of Hardik Pandya, Karunal Pandya is another crorepati of this season. He was booked by Mumbai Indians in Rs 2 crore. Hardik Pandya made his debut in the Bharateeya team recently. Karunal says that Rahul Sanghvi of Mumbai Indians and Pravin Amre of Delhi Daredevils used to review his progress regularly. This means he was a part of their scheme. He also faced difficulties like his elder brother Hardik Pandya. His father was the only earning member in the family but he suffered a heart attack and the earning stopped. Both the brothers used to practice in Baroda Stadium. They used to have a packet of Maggi for breakfast and the gardener of stadium used to cook it for them. Hardik started getting some money for playing but that was not sufficient.
Deepak Hooda: He played for Rajasthan Royals in 2014 and 2015. But his base price was fixed at Rs 10 lakh as he did not get good chances. Sunrisers Hyderabad purchased this player for Rs 4.2 crore and this changed his luck. With his game in U-19 World Cup, Deepak had carved out a place for him as big-hitter. Deepak is happy with the price. He says that he is not very interested in money. And this thinking makes him different from other players and this can take him to the top. Deepak is resident of Rohtak and a son of a Kabaddi player. His father was transferred to Baroda some time ago and he came there. He began his career with the Ranji team last year and made his mark with 557 runs. His capacity and image of a big-hitter made him a crorepati.
Karun Nair: Nair—who was bought for an astounding Rs 4 crore by Delhi Daredevils is a big-match player. He showed his potential in debut season 2013-14, when he scored three successive centuries to lead Karnataka to the Ranji Trophy title. He made a triple-century in the final to help Karnataka to defend their crown. The 24-year-old was signed by Rajasthan Royals at Rs 75 lakh in 2014. In August last year, Nair got his maiden national call to join the Test squad in Sri Lanka as a replacement player.
Aditya Tare: That Tare was signed for Rs 1.2 crore by Sunrisers Hyderabad is not much of a surprise. A year earlier, he famously smashed a six to help Mumbai edge out Rajasthan Royals on net run rate and secure a berth in the playoffs. He top-scored for his side with 311 runs in eight innings in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy at a strike rate of 138.
Eklavya Dwivedi: His base price was 20 lakh and after a heated round he was selected for the Gujarat Lions for one crore. The 27-year-old’s tryst with the IPL has been restricted to a handful of matches for the now disbanded Pune Warriors, whom he represented in 2012. Dwivedi has emerged as Uttar Pradesh's fulcrum in the middle order. Over time, he has also become the side’s first-choice wicketkeeper. Crucial knock of 89 in just 53-ball against Services to kickstart UP’s winning campaign in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy played an important role in getting high bid.
Ankit Rajpoot : He was picked up by Kolkata Knight Riders for Rs 1.5 crore. The 22-year-old is yet another promising pacer to have emerged from Uttar Pradesh after Praveen Kumar and Bhuvneshwar Kumar. In all, he has picked up 70 wickets in 19 first-class games and was part of the Chennai Super Kings set-up for two seasons in 2013 and 2014. Rajpoot was a key member in UP’s victorious run at the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy last month, and was the side’s best bowler in the final, finishing with figures of 3 for 30.
Kishore Kamath : Kamath, 21-year-old legspinner and handy middle-order batsman got Rs 1.4 crores, an amount that was 14 times his base price of Rs 10 lakh. That he signed up for the auction was on the backing Hubli Tigers, the franchise he represented at the Karnataka Premier League in 2015 following strong performances in the KSCA first division league for Malleswaram Gymkhana. His ten scalps in seven matches at an economy of less than six runs an over also earned him an invitation to attend the trials organised by Royal Challengers Bangalore last month.
(With inputs from
Nishant Kr Azad)
