In India, only two things sell: Dhoni and…
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“This is just so crazy,” my mom said, reacting to the IPL auction news on television today. She doesn’t understand cricket much, much less care for it, and on another day I would treat her snarky comments on cricket just as I treat a college lecture on, say, “degradation of natural resources and the environmental problems”.
But on this rare occasion, my thoughts do tally with her’s.
Dhoni sold for US $1.5 million to Chennai.
What is Mahendra Singh Dhoni; some sort of financial corporation that is now being bought by a bigger organization to form an alliance, huh?
Muralitharan has been “bought” by the same Chennai franchise for US $650,000. That’s far less than the amount paid for Dhoni. One would expect Murali to get top rates, at least more than, uh, Dhoni, going by their records. Oh well.
I’ll go and get the whole scoop now and post something by midnight. They have surely caught my attention this time!
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POSTED IN: Cricket
8 opinions for In India, only two things sell: Dhoni and…
Tariq
Feb 21, 2008 at 4:11 pm
this is madness.
how is murilatharan worth 300k dollars less that dhoni?
what marketing has done to this country. *sigh*
Dinnie
Feb 21, 2008 at 4:13 pm
Hey Tariq; welcome!
Buzz is that Dhoni’s money is even more than the “icons” viz..Tendulkar, Ganguly, etc.
What’s so special about him? He’s not been in good form since ages.
straight point
Feb 22, 2008 at 1:47 pm
DIN
guess who is the highest scorer in current CB series?
Dinnie
Feb 22, 2008 at 4:44 pm
Yeah, okay, Pan, but do the lifetime records matter or not?
What are Laxman’s rates?
Baseer
Feb 22, 2008 at 8:01 pm
Sachin, Sourav, Dravid, Yuvraj and Sehwag were considered ‘icon’ players which meant they stood to earn 115% of the highest earning player in their team. Since all teams had a budget of $5m to spend from, the teams with an icon player were ‘restricted’ in what they could pay to an individual player.
For instance, if Mumbai bought player X for $1m, they would have to pay Sachin $1.15m which meant they would be spending $2.15 m on just two players. Since Chennai did not have an ‘icon’ player, they were happy to go to great lengths to buy Dhoni. A bid of $1.5 m meant that no team with an ‘icon’ player could buy him and Dhoni is in demand because each team wants to have Indian stars to draw the Indian crowds.
Laxman was bought for $375,000. He was an ‘icon’ player but selflessly withdrew that status so that Hyderabad had greater purchasing power. This meant they were able to make a $1.35 m bid for Symonds which would not have been possible had Laxman been an ‘icon’.
On the other hand, had the Sachins and Yuvrajs not been labelled ‘icons’, they might have come with an even higher price tag like Dhoni did. Them being ‘icons’ meant that they were restricted to their cities which meant their cities didn’t have to have to try to secure them. Their value would only depend on the price of the (next) highest prized player in their team which in turn would have dropped because of the presence of an icon. I hope I haven’t caused any confusion!
Basically, the player price tags have been for business reasons rather than a reflection of the ‘true value’ of the cricketer as it would have been in an ideal world.
Dinnie
Feb 23, 2008 at 4:55 pm
That definitely helps me to understand their logistics. But I am quite sure, Bas, that there is more to Laxman’s story. Anyway, thanks for explaining.
So what do we call you now? Bas the encyclopedia?
Bas
Feb 24, 2008 at 12:59 pm
Bas-o-pedia has a better ring it. Kiddin’. Just know a few things here and there, nothing spectacular.
Bas
Feb 24, 2008 at 1:00 pm
Bas-o-pedia has a better ring to it. Kiddin’. Just know a few things here and there, nothing spectacular.
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