Much of the IPL auctions was surprising

Adam Gilchrist Saturday, February 23, 2008

A place in the finals of the Commonwealth Bank Series is now assured, and perhaps it's time for our batsmen to come good just ahead of the finals. All three teams are woefully lacking in batting form, and it's just been flashes of brilliance from a couple of batsmen, coupled with some really good bowling that sees us in such a comfortable position. I would be lying if I said that there was no interest in the auction to the IPL that took place on Wednesday.

We were all curious about who went for how much, and while it's a strange feeling to be representing a new team in a few month's time, I am reasonably happy about how things worked out for me. We had all dispersed for a couple of days after Sunday's game, so it was only on Thursday that the team got together. When we re-assembled there was a lot of leg-pulling of the players who went for higher bids, with Andrew Symonds being everybody's target. There were some surprisingly low bids as well, with Ricky Ponting and Matthew Hayden going for surprising low prices.

I cannot understand how two top quality attacking batsmen like them did not attract higher bids. I am not sure it had anything to do with availability of the Australians for the entire duration, because Symonds and Lee have god high bids. In fact, I was not at all surprised at the price for Symonds because he is the perfect prototype for a Twenty20 cricketer. He bats explosively, is a handy bowler and an astonishing fielder to boot. What's more, in the light of recent controversies, the old showbiz saying that no publicity is bad publicity seems apt for him.

The roof-shattering bid for Mahendra Singh Dhoni as well as the impressive numbers attracted by Ishant Sharma and Lee suggest that the auction was not only about cricket, but also about commerce. I will be playing alongside Symonds, RP Singh, Chaminda Vaas and Rohit Sharma for Hyderabad. I have not been there as often as I have been to Mumbai or Bangalore, but when we went there last year I remember having some mean biriyani there. The IPL concept excites me because it gives me an opportunity to play with some of my great opponents as well as some exciting new talent, all at the same time. I would have retired from the game by then, but those who are in the game will perhaps get a better insight into the culture, attitude and outlook of other players.

We saw in the Test series how relationships can sour between teams, but hopefully, with the IPL throwing together players from all teams, there will be fewer misunderstandings within the cricket community. It is a new concept, and one that the next generation of cricketers have to deal with careful. It's too early to know whether the IPL will live up to the hype, but as someone who has just given up the game, it provides me with an ideal opportunity to keep in touch with the game for at least a few weeks of the year.

Source: http://in.sports.yahoo.com/cricket/ipl/columns/columns_20080223_2.html