File photo of CSK cricketer Robin Uthappa
Chennai Super Kings (CSK) cricketer Robin Uthappa made some strong statements about the Indian Premier League (IPL) auctions and the way it has been conducted over the years. Uthappa, who was bought by CSK for his base price of Rs 2 crore in the recently held mega auction in Bengaluru, said that going into an IPL auction made him feel like “cattle” and also compared it to awaiting the results after an “examination”. Uthappa went on and even advocated for a draft system instead of the usual method of buying players.
“The auction feels like an examination which you have written a long time ago, and you’re just awaiting the results. You feel like cattle (commodity), to be honest,” Uthappa said in an interview with news9live.
The right-hand batter explained what goes on in the mind of a cricketer when his name comes up for auctioning, which he feels isn’t the most “pleasing feeling.”
“It’s not the most pleasing feeling, and I think that’s the thing about cricket, especially in India… everything about you is there for the world to consume and then judge and express their opinions about it. Having an opinion about performances is one thing, but having an opinion on how much you get sold for is quite something else,” he added.
The 2007 T20 World Cup winner also explained how difficult it becomes for a cricketer to know where he stands as a player as the IPL auction usually determines that through the amount of money somebody is willing to spend on the cricketer.
Promoted
“You can’t imagine what the guys who don’t get sold go through. It cannot be pleasant. My heart goes out to guys who have been there for a long time and then miss out and don’t get picked. It can be defeating sometimes. Suddenly your value as a cricketer becomes about how much somebody is willing to spend on you, and it’s so haphazard… there is no method to the madness. People have tried their best to kind of grapple around it for the last 15 years, and I don’t know if they have a clue because if you speak to a lot of the people who have been there at the auction, they’ll say ‘you know it’s so random… if you’d come later you’d probably have made more money… if you’d come earlier there’d have been enough money so you’d have made more’. I really hope for the sake of the sanity of everybody that this goes into a draft system where it is more respectful.”
Uthappa has played 46 ODIs and 13 T20Is for India and has also won the IPL in the past with Kolkata Knights Riders and with CSK last season.
Topics mentioned in this article
