Published: Feb 04, 2013, 08:41 AM (IST)
Edited: Feb 04, 2013, 08:41 AM (IST)
N Srinivasan (centre) with the Chennai Super Kings team in the auction room © Getty Images
By Anand Walunjkar
Little known Australian all-rounder Glenn Maxwell was bought by the Mumbai Indians for a whopping $1 million, an achievement the all-rounder celebrated with a golden duck in the ongoing One-Day Series with West Indies, and topped it by giving away four consecutive sixes to tailender Sunil Narine.
The day’s honours, however, went to N Srinivasan, president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), who, in a surprise move, was auctioned in the ‘Top Dawgs’ category towards the end of the session.
“Although not considered to be a player in the traditional sense, with no special ability in batting, bowling or fielding, he is a proven match-winner nevertheless, especially when it comes to extremely tricky circumstances with rather low probability of winning. Let me hear bids for Mr. N Srinivasan, for a base price of 50 million dollars,” announced auctioneer Richard Madley.
The auction floor promptly descended into chaos, as franchise owners leapt from their seats and furiously waved their auction bats to indicate a raised bid. For the next 15 minutes, the auctioneer reeled off numbers from $50 million to $500 million as teams kept their bats raised. The bidding slowed down after half a billion dollars – the Mallyas were the first to exit the race, followed by the Rajasthan Royals. The Sahara-owned Pune Warriors India asked out of the bidding war as well, when the owners were categorically told that they cannot pay in cash.
Bidding eventually came to a halt when Nita Ambani bid $1 billion and silenced the hall with a contemptuous smile. A minute later, just when it seemed as if Srinivasan might go to the Mumbai Indians, the BCCI President himself raised the bid by $1 in his capacity as the CSK owner, quickly switching back to being BCCI President to silence the auctioneer when he protested that the raise cannot be as low as $1.
“And for $1 billion and 1… SOLD!” exclaimed Madley, slamming his hammer on the desk, even as N Srinivasan walked towards the CSK entourage wearing a beatific smile.
The other player in the ‘Top Dawgs’ category, Rajeev Shukla, had no takers and remained unsold after two rounds of bidding.
(Anand Walunjkar is an IT professional in a leading MNC who writes satirical articles on politics, Bollywood and cricket. The above article has been reproduced with permission from http://www.
