The auction of players for the upcoming season of the Indian Premier League commenced today.
The franchise based cricket tournament which commenced in 2008, has over the years been embroiled in serious controversies like spot fixing which resulted in a lifetime ban on former Indian International S Sreesanth. It also incredibly saw a two year ban getting slapped on IPL teams Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals for alleged betting activities of their key officials.
Even after getting hit by such serious issue, the tournament still surprisingly continues to go on and the auction today saw a serious amount of cash getting splurged.
A total of 578 players were up for grabs out of which Preity Zinta led Kings XI Punjab splashed Rs 11 crore for cricketer KL Rahul, Rs 7.6 crores on R Ashvin. Rajasthan Royals brought Ben Stokes for Rs 12.5 crores and Sunrisers Hyderabad bagged Manish Pandey for Rs 11 crores. Kolkata Knight Riders also decided to do major business by buying Chris Lynn for Rs 9.6 crores and Mitchell Starc for Rs 9.4 crores.
While many players were being sold for a premium, certain stars like Chris Gayle, Joe Root, Hashim Amla and Murli Vijay remained unsold.
Even though the IPL auction isn’t remotely related to the Indian political scene, let alone AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal, people joked about him in the auction’s backdrop:
Expected price : 10 crores
Sold for : 0 crores
Saving : 10 crores kyunki imaandaar sarkaar #IPLAuction pic.twitter.com/ARxu6pDL37— Corporate Dalit (@CorporateDalit) January 27, 2018
Greatest all-rounder ready for #IPLAuction
Base price – Rs 5/- pic.twitter.com/jT6KIGSXMU
— PhD in Bakchodi (@Atheist_Krishna) January 27, 2018
Auctioneer , when RS Seats are being auctioned!!#IPLAuction pic.twitter.com/vgMIhSr4cI
— Shash (@pokershash) January 27, 2018
I request all the owners to donate the remaining amount to AAP after the auction finishes ~ Kejriwal ??#IPLAuction
— Dr. Gill (@ikpsgill1) January 27, 2018
People came up with other political jokes:
Anyone interested in this player??
Base price : Rs 2,76,000 cr (ONLY)#IPLAuction pic.twitter.com/5vH141riQp— Sunny? (@sunil_ss7) January 27, 2018
Team Owners,if there was an auction for MLAs #IPLAuctionpic.twitter.com/urH3T7VaaV
— Abhishek (@SsupHolmes) January 27, 2018
Arun Jaitley watching #IPLAuction and calculating tax to be charged for each player. pic.twitter.com/gm6SLOuiDv
— PhD in Bakchodi (@Atheist_Krishna) January 27, 2018
Even a section of media persons, who in the past have been embroiled in controversies, weren’t spared by the people:
Disappointing #IPLAuction.
No one has yet bought the greatest spinner, Rajdeep.— चार लोग (@WoCharLog) January 27, 2018
Players who sold their credibility to Pakistan way before the auction
#IPLAuctionpic.twitter.com/WnPNSlvuCR— Ritik (@RitikRai619) January 27, 2018
The only player who has been with one team since the start of his career and never sold to others is Rajdeep Sardesai with Congress. #IPLAuction
— Farrago Abdullah (@abdullah_0mar) January 27, 2018
And as usual there were general jokes:
Pic1: #IPLAuction in India
Pic2: #PSL Auction in Pakistan pic.twitter.com/xHkaSGgEoK— The-Lying-Lama (@KyaUkhaadLega) January 27, 2018
Hopefully CSK will pick at least one Tamil Nadu player to negotiate with the auto-rickshaw guys, etc.#IPLAuction
— Fandromeda (@PlayFandromeda) January 27, 2018
How long before we know the caste of the players sold for the highest bids in the #IPLAuction, @NewIndianXpress?
— ?hargav (@ThatIndianGuy) January 27, 2018
It remains to be seen how this season of the tournament pans out and whether it manages to court some controversies like past years, which might mean a further explosion of jokes on Social Media.
