A sport once tagged the gentleman’s game has dwarfed World Cups and no longer are cricketers craving to represent their country more than in T20 shows:
Analysts and sports watchers have branded the Indian Premier League (IPL) as the most valuable sporting league in the world second only to the NFL, the National Football League of America.
It has made the Cricket World Cup a minor matter in terms of value and player earnings and on Tuesday in the sizzling city of Dubai, all records were broken by way of player marketing at the IPL that made Australia’s fast bowling duo of Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins the highest earning two cricketers in the world.
While Starc pulled in a price of 2.9 million US dollars (24.75 Indian crore) for the 2024 season his team-mate Cummins raked in 2.4 million US dollars (20.50 Indian crore) and both dwarfed a previous highest of 18.50 crore doled out by the Punjab Kings for England’s Sam Curran before the start of the 2023 IPL season.
In Sri Lanka money at current value Starc, who will play for the Kolkota Knight Riders, earns Rs.942 million while Cummins is entitled to Rs.780 million playing for the Sunrises Hyderabad.
The occasion also marked the first time that the IPL player auction was held outside India in the month of December when Christmas celebrations and shopping festivals can hit peak form.
Sri Lanka’s promising fast bowler Dilshan Madushan who grabbed 21 wickets from nine matches at the concluded World Cup in India was bought by the Mumbai Indians for 4.6 Indian crore or Rs.185 million while Wanindu Hasaranga de Silva who could not feature in the World Cup due to injury was snapped up by the Sunrises Hyderabad for 1.5 Indian crore.
Both Starc and Cummins have entered the highest paid slots at a time the IPL in its 2024 season will allow bowlers to send down two bouncers instead of one per over as tournament organizers say they want to promote an equal contest between bat and ball.
But Starc’s highest price value has also baffled IPL followers as the Australian speedster had not appeared in the Indian show for the past eight years.
According to estimates, the best players in England where cricket originated can be contracted to play for their country for around 800,000 pounds sterling which is very much less in terms of US dollars, a far cry from what they can earn playing in the IPL in just two months of franchise cricket.
It means more and more cricketers playing for their respective countries have turned their backs or are in a position to turn away from national contracts in favour of franchise T20 cricket.
