Bevab
Staff Member
February 2, 1993
ICL AUCTIONS
- This round will be for Indian batsmen as we have been informed and it may be the most important round left.
- Ajay Jadeja was the first player up and despite his rocky start to international cricket averaging 18 he was signed by Bangalore for 19 lakhs after a fairly competitive bidding process involving four other teams.
- Bombay reacted to missing out on Jadeja with a massive 50 lakhs bid for their local star Vinod Kambli who made his test debut yesterday. Only Delhi had the interest to follow them till the end and they weren't happy when they also missed out on Atul Bedade who was signed by Bombay again for 7 lakhs.
- Delhi did however manage to sign veteran player Ashok Malhotra for 14 lakhs which was followed by Calcutta signing recent Ranji Trophy debutant VVS Laxman for 2 lakhs and Bangalore managing to sign their local rookie and former Indian U19 captain Rahul Dravid for 5 lakhs. Another international underachiever in Pravin Amre ended up as a Madras player for 14 lakhs.
- The experienced duo of Krishnan Bhaskar Pillai and Amarjit Kaypee surprisingly did not receive any attention with teams hesitant to sign players who have been overlooked for higher honours till now.
- Ranji Trophy finalist Surendra Bhave however was not neglected despite his lack of international experience with Delhi signing him for 7 lakhs. It was followed by Jacob Martin going to Tollywood for 4 lakhs and one cap wonder Gursharan Singh becoming a Bangalore player for 2 lakhs. Rajesh Puri did not attract any bids in between all of this. The final player of the round wound up being Raman Lamba whose enthusiastic approach got him plenty of bids and a final price of 22 lakhs from Delhi.
- Bombay managed to sign a very aggressive six hitter in Bedade and an attractive stroke maker in Kambli. They can't complain about that haul. Delhi will be the winners of this round though with a solid mix of experience, talent and versatility all signed after they secured Bhave, Lamba and Malhotra. Bangalore were also active with three signings of different profiles in Jadeja, Dravid and Singh while Madras managed to sign the ever improving Amre. Only Calcutta and Tollywood look like they should have done better here, signing only two rookie cricketers in Laxman and Martin respectively who are yet to play any form of limited overs cricket at senior level.
- The twelfth round involving domestic keepers may be a short one.
- The veteran keeper and hero of the 83 World Cup win, Syed Kirmani has been confirmed to be a Tollywood player for 15 lakhs. The currently active international Kiran More received a successful bid of 5 lakhs from Bombay and after a couple of bids Nayan Mongia who has been making a name for himself domestically was signed by Bangalore for 3 lakhs.
- Perhaps surprisingly VB Chandrasekhar and Vijay Yadav, both of whom have international experience did not get any bids. Neither did Sameer Dighe who has been making some noise recently.
- Tollywood, Delhi and Bombay have only one domestic player spot left to fill and they may do so with the all-rounders round soon. Bombay also have their backup keeper should Healy leave early and More could play if Manjrekar doesn't keep. Despite not keeping regularly anymore there is no doubt that Kirmani has been signed as a backup keeper and will have to do the job if asked.
- The thirteenth round involving overseas bowlers is also expected to be a short one.
- The main player everyone was looking forward to was
Allan Donald in the absence of international fast bowlers from West Indies and Pakistan. Despite arriving this late there was plenty of bidding for him particularly from Delhi who wanted a spearhead pacer. In the end though Tollywood would come in late and sign him for 25 lakhs, disappointing both Delhi and Calcutta owners who wanted him badly.
- Dehli had to compensate for that with a 15 lakhs bid for the senior Terry Alderman who already confirmed that he would retire if he were to not play in this tournament. Surprisingly Madras followed it up by signing Abdul Qadir for 15 lakhs and Calcutta ended the round with 5 lakhs for Joel Garner.
- There were plenty of names that went unsold in this round with owners playing mind games over bidding for them. Some of them are Danny Morrison, Rumesh Ratnayake, Andy Caddick, Shane Warne, Tony Dodemaide, Angus Fraser, Paul Jarvis, Eddo Brandes, Fanie de Villiers, Chris Matthews, Iqbal Qasim, Devon Malcolm, Muttiah Muralitharan andMerv Hughes. We can only assume that many of them were unsold due to lack of experience, reputation or them being only available for a part of the tournament.
- Dehli will have to rue this round after having done so well just a couple of rounds back. Maybe they overspent slightly in that domestic batsmen round as the main reason they couldn't bid for Donald any further was the lack of money remaining. It is also questionable as to why they signed Alderman immediately after missing out on Donald as they are different bowlers and Donald was only available for half the tournament due to his county contract which he confirmed he would honour yesterday. Did they just panic after missing out on Donald and wanted to sign the very next name that came up?
- It was equally confusing to see Madras bid for veteran Qadir when they already had two of India's main spinners signed for close to 1 crore combined and an all-rounder in Kuiper who can also bowl spin. They were already frustrated at missing out on signing a domestic pacer earlier and have only signed one dibbly dobbler all-rounder after that to compensate. Unless they pick up some domestic pacer in the accelerated round who can somehow step up when needed their squad looks unbalanced. Were they just tempted by a player of Qadir's experience and quality remaining in the auction for base price?
- Tollywood owners are definitely going home happy tonight with the signing of a superstar bowler like Donald. Even when he leaves they still have the wobbly Watson to replace him. All that they need to complete their squad is a spinner which they will no doubt sign via the all-rounder round or the accelerated round and some batting cover. Calcutta should also be happy that they picked up an experienced death bowler with legacy cheaply.
- This completes the overseas player activity from Delhi and Madras as they have already filled their quota. Bombay filled theirs back in round ten and now only Tollywood, Calcutta and Bangalore have to finish theirs. Tollywood and Calcutta have one foreigner spot left while Bangalore still have two.
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