Modi helped MI get Pollard: IPL official
An official from one of the eight IPL franchises which played in the first three IPLs has revealed that the secret tiebreaker rule in the IPL player auction in 2010 was actually a brain wave of Lalit Modi, the former IPL commissioner so that the Mumbai franchise could acquire the Trinidadian all rounder, Kieron Pollard. The official's comments were made to ESPNcricinfo after Modi, during an interview to the Indian television channel CNN-IBN, said the tiebreaker was meant to level the field in the IPL. "The tiebreaker only came in because, how do you determine when you have a fixed purse for the tournament. And this is well researched, that you reach the cap and still two teams are bidding, secret tie-breaker came as a penalty clause where the team actually pays back a higher fee but it goes back to the BCCI, which is then used to offset other player costs," Modi said. "But the objective, again, was to make it equal. All bidders get an equal opportunity to buy a player."
The franchise official rebutted Modi's view and said the field had not been level even during his time as the IPL chief. "The truth is that there has been favoritism in the IPL, as such a tie-breaker rule will only favor certain franchises which have deep pockets" the official told ESPNcricinfo. The secret tie-breaker rule is a method where teams which have bid the maximum amount allowed for a player, will have to submit a 'secret' bid, which will not go to the BCCI's coffers and not added to the player salary. The team which has submitted the higher bid will get the player.
So far only three players have been bought via this rule. In the 2010 auction, more than one franchise made the maximum open-auction bid - $750,000 - for Pollard and Shane Bond. During the tiebreakers, Mumbai made the winning bid for Pollard while Kolkata Knight Riders bought Bond. In the 2012 auction on February 4, Chennai Super Kings and Deccan Chargers bid their entire purse - $2 million - for Ravindra Jadeja which forcing the sale to be decided via a tiebreaker, which was won by Chennai.
The official went further and said that there were other rules which Modi twisted to his liking, as happened in the case involving the Indian Cricket League cricketers who were given amnesty after their bans. "The original idea was that there would be draft pick," the official said, explaining that the franchise with the poorest record would get the first pick. "But instead, Modi said anyone can pick anyone. Mumbai Indians immediately picked R Sathish, Ambati Rayudu and Ali Murtuza, who played a significant part for Mumbai in the first three years."
In the sensational interview given to the TV channel, Modi attacked current BCCI president N Srinivasan, also the managing director of India Cements which owns the Chennai franchise, alleging that he has been twisting rules to favor his side. While the official ESPNcricinfo spoke to said although the rules favored the richer franchises, it was not exactly cheating.
"If you ask me, if the system favours Mumbai or Chennai, yes wherever it can. For example if there is a rule that Rs. 30 lakhs is the limit (for uncapped domestic players) to come and sign whoever you want, you knew that players would be signed by the big guys and they would pay obscene amounts under the table for the players they wanted. But to say that is cheating, is not correct."
Categories:
news
0 comments:
Post a Comment