Cricket non-stop, from Tests to IPL auctions and retentions

How much is too much, if that be the question posed to Indian cricket fans at this point of time, what is happening in the first Test in Bengaluru against New Zealand and all the chatter over the forthcoming IPL auction is engrossing. To be sure, for the Indian batters who were out in the middle at the Chinnaswamy Stadium on Thursday, it was a nightmare. Overcast conditions made the red cherry do all tricks, where the swing and seam shown by Kiwis Matt Henry and William ORourke made life hell for the Indians. For five of them, Virat Kohli and KL Rahul included, to go for zero was distressing. And the way the Kiwis have batted, Test cricket is in full bloom. It shows that despite all the distractions, focus on the main job has to be kept intact.

It is well known fans of Test cricket have an eye on what will be the situation vis a vis the ICC Test cycle where India sit at the top. To already expect India will make the 2025 final will be premature as there is going to be a real hard series against Australia Down Under. What seems to have come out of syllabus, at least the first morning, is how New Zealand rocked India. One cannot judge the Indians based on bad performance on one day. That’s sport, even decisions taken by the skipper Rohit Sharma and coach Gautam Gambhir can go wrong. How India can bounce back and show focus will be important, even though momentum has swung in favour of the Kiwis on Day 1.

Away from Test cricket, the buzz is on the IPL auctions, to be held in Saudi Arabia, possibly next month. Each day one hears of retentions and how Sunrisers Hyderabad are splurging big bucks in crores of rupees on Heinrich Klaasen, Pat Cummins and even Abhishek Sharma. As last season’s IPL finalists, SRH did well and will look to consolidate. Understanding the IPL auction dynamics is not easy and how owners want to build a side is business plus the value players being in. No IPL franchise wants a weak side. So, the talk on retentions, new hiring and what will be the core will be speculated upon almost daily. It will not stop even if Test cricket is on, that’s for sure.

More news pertains to changes in Delhi Capitals who have a unique structure on who runs cricket affairs. In a mixed pattern of control between two corporates, there is a switch between JSW and GMR. With control now in the hands of GMR for the next three years, there is no place for Sourav Ganguly to be in command of pure cricket matters. He will not be looking after the coaching even as director, something which was on the cards after Ricky Ponting had been let go first. The new think-tank wants former cricketers Hemang Badani and Venugopal Rao as head coach and director respectively. In between, there was also a rumour of Yuvraj Singh becoming the coach. Even more wicked was a thought Delhi would let go of Rishhabh Pant, indeed the rock star of Indian cricket who is good for all formats. As DC captain, the 2025 season could be defining for him in many ways, given his return to peak fitness.  

All this speculation and news gossip around the IPL will be there daily. It’s a bit like the stock market chatter as well on blue chips and those scrips which can be junked. Mumbai Indians have also been in the news with Mahela Jayawardene coming in as head coach. The grapevine says this is not good news for Rohit Sharma, though to let go of the World Cup winning captain will be foolish. There are super heavyweights in Mumbai Indians where Suryakumar Yadav and Hardik Pandya are the big guns from India. Add do it the overseas names who can come in, what shape MI will take after the IPL auction will be interesting, given the massive fane base which the team has.

Indeed, cricket has become a 24x7 sport. Yes, in monsoon there may be no cricket but if you look at the exponential growth of this sport in white ball T20 format, across even cities, it’s defining. That’s why,  even when a Test match is on and India are supposed to make the final for the 2025 big match, franchise cricket still grabs headlines.