Filling gaping holes - what goes into the making of a team’s strategy for IPL auction
“Auction attains the pulse of Indian audience that other systems couldn’t have,” quipped a renowned coach as I rang him up to ask a straight question, “Why auction, Sir? Why not a draft?” It might seem a silly question but then again, understanding IPL auction hasn’t always been easy, right?
Ever since its inception, the IPL has always used an auction to buy players, while only recently, they added a pre-season trade system. From the science of it, buying players is a method that can be flexed to a certain extent, with all teams having a similar purse, has a massive “fair factor” attached to it.
Take 2018 for example, the most recent IPL mega auction. Chennai Super Kings decided not to run by the flashiness and went back to the core group they had been able to imbibe in the years before their two-year ban. They were mocked after the auction, yet went on to win their third title before claiming the runners-up trophy the following season. Pragmatism - and not perception and sentiments - were the central idea of the team as there were ample amount of data crunching and numerous processes behind the scenes to finalise what must have been a rigorous exercise.
“One of the key things is to see how a player fits into the team,” Gaurav Sundararaman, former team analyst, recounted in a chat with SportsCafe. “So understanding the team setup is important like culturally also how they fit into the team. It is not all about numbers as everybody will have numbers and know that he has the best strike rate and all that but it is again dependent on what role he brings into the team, what is his attitude and also what kind of situation he has played in. I think that goes unnoticed a lot whether he has played under pressure, whether he plays spin well in tough conditions, can he play with a wet ball, those things are important as well from the strategy point of view.”
Over the years of working with many IPL teams, RCB in particular, apart from doing backend research help to the Chennai Super Kings and Mumbai Indians, Gaurav has developed a pattern of understanding T20s that is extremely useful for the IPL teams. It was, in a simple way, breaking down things to the bones and reaching a conclusion that would be the ultimate validating point for a franchise before entering a potential bidding war. This is exactly where an analyst’s job comes to the fore.
Ahead of the 2018 auction, CSK went for Imran Tahir and Harbhajan Singh, with Deepak Chahar being their bowling spearhead. It was a very unusual bowling line-up, with none of them being superstars. It lacked potency from the look of it but Dhoni had something else in mind. He ordered spin tracks for the season and by gaining maximum benefits from their two home grounds - Chennai and Pune - CSK established a dominance that paved the way for the eventual championship run.
In simple ways, it was the blending of two philosophies to form a larger one - that you can’t lose at your home if you have any hope of winning the cup - and CSK, despite moving on a wobbly chariot, claimed back what they always believed was “rightfully theirs”. It is where the ideology of a captain comes in, that Gaurav feels, is the major factor to look into rather than having the perception of a franchise having linear planning in place for year after year.
“Each coach and captain will have their own ideology, so I think we should leave the franchise aside for the time being because the franchise is an evolution. Sometimes captains change like that in Punjab and Rajasthan. Even though in RCB, CSK and Mumbai the captains are the same, the coaching staff have changed in Mumbai from Ponting to Kumble to Mahela while in Chennai there is only one coach from beginning, so continuity is there. The ideology changes according to personality.
“For example, Virat has tried different things. First, he was very instinctive but later he realised that T20 requires a lot of planning and strategy and then the franchise gave more emphasis on picking people with numbers but that did not work too. What I want to say is that the importance of auction from the point of view of RCB is less than that of saying a Mumbai because having proper scouting systems in place, having talent scouts to go around the world or watch the different leagues and get that feedback may not be as robust as the franchise like Mumbai or Chennai.”
Talent scouting is an American sports concept integrated beautifully to find talents from nooks and crannies of the country, and, in extension, the world. Scouts go to different minor sporting events and look out for players who could be an option for them in the mega event. To get an understanding of this, roll the clock back to four years when defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders shelled out an unbelievable sum of Rs 2.4 crore ($400,000) to snap KC Cariappa after a heavy bidding war with Delhi Daredevils, 24 times his base price.
It was surprising for everyone watching the auction live on Television as a player, who hadn’t even played a single professional match until then, was attracting such bidding. But there was a story behind it. AR Srikkanth, the team analyst for Knight Riders and Bijapur Bulls, saw him scalping 11 wickets in the Karnataka Premier League and he was so impressed that Cariappa was asked to give a trial during the Knight Riders camp in Hyderabad before the Champions League T20. The rest, as we saw on TV that day, was history for the spinner from Coorg.
“A scout has two roles - one is finding new talent, some talent which nobody has seen and number two is filling the gap for the team. Like for example next year there is going to be a big auction and the entire team will be new but this year almost 3/4th of the teams are existing and you just have to fill in a few spots,” explains an active scout of a top IPL franchise who didn’t want to be named because the scrutiny that comes with his job.
“In T20 format, there is only one aspect that can be a surprise and that is spinners. Otherwise, you will not find somebody on the street who will smack the ball coming at 140 kmph. So to smack the ball coming at that speed, you should have experience. That takes a lot of years of practice which is not available on the street and neither is someone who bowls at a speed of 145 kmph. The only thing that can be a surprise to you is a spinner. So it is very clear that if you are looking at someone to face a ball at 145kmph, you should have the ability to hit boundaries and if you are in middle-order you should have the ability to clear 80 metres. That is not easy to find in normal games. Everything else is available,” the talent scout explained.
It is where the importance of the group of former players and coaches arise. Scouts act as an add-on to coaches and analysts to ensure the gaping holes are filled. Coach gives scouts a list of spots he is looking for and the scout goes around to fill that spot. If the team is looking for an opener, then the scout narrows down a few players to present the coach a detailed sheet. A camp further adds to the boost and if a player does well there, then well, their life is changed overnight.
“If you noticed there are bowlers that have been picked from this kind of leagues and not a batsman. Somebody like Devdut Padikkal who has done well in KPL and has followed up with other formats also so that gives a lot of mileage to it. So these state leagues create the first point of reference and then you follow them for thereon. So these are all very important matches as they give us a base for monitoring the players.
“Many franchises have long-term scouts and few other franchises have their training camp. What we do is we have the players in our radar and then follow them over a period of time. Franchises may help them through training camps. In a way, all these players will be in radar,” he added.
While in a mega auction, the exercise rises manifold, with even franchises opting for mock auctions in their team board room, the pressure in small auctions, like the one this year, is far less. However, the struggle remains as the pressure of being a step ahead of the competitors in terms of cracking a better deal, managing purse and most importantly, filling gaping holes with a solid prospect will determine the winners. December 19 will answer most of them almost decisively.
