Indian Premier League auctions, over the years, have confounded many people, including yours truly, thanks to strange decisions taken by cricket experts who have been hired by franchisees. Take for instance the latest auction where Delhi Daredevils shelled out Rs 16 crore for Yuvraj Singh – the highest amount in the history of the IPL so far – while Dinesh Kartik, who was brought for a staggering Rs 10.5 crore by Royal Challengers Bangalore.
Now, if the West Indies Cricket Board were given the same (collective) amount of Rs. 26.5 crore, they would happily be smoking the peace pipe with their disgruntled cricketers and refrain from sending relatively unknown ‘benchers’ to the cricket world's biggest cricket tournament. But that is another story.
Back to Yuvraj Singh. Explosive middle order batsman, occasional pie-chucker; a game changer when “on song”, and cancer survivor. If one peeks into the recent past of Yuvraj’s “cricket” career one will find that:
He is an India reject – his volatile father has a theory about why his son is licking his wounds and playing Ranji Trophy in obscure towns in India instead of being in Australia
He made an emotional but disastrous comeback the last time he played One-Day cricket for India
He scored three back-to-back centuries in the current Ranji Trophy but fell short of inspiring team Punjab into the knock-outs.
Why then would a team that gambles heavily in each IPL, auction-punt on the dapper south-paw who had the potential of becoming an all-time great in the shorter versions of the game but fell short of expectations? DD seems to have invested not so much in Yuvraj Singh the cricketer but in brand Yuvi or @Yuvstrong12 – a marvel that has an automatic connect to millions of young Indians.
One can take a guess and say this decision has loads to do with the marketing activities of the franchise. DD has come out with innovative consumer-connect campaigns over the last few years of the IPL – they once had key team members take a ride on the Delhi Metro!
Their campaigns have cut across regions and very active on digital platforms where the young Indian resides. Marketing brand Yuvi means instant connect across the country whose cricket fans are still baying for him to be included in the current Indian squad playing the World Cup.
It looks like DD were desperate to have a champion and were taken to the wire by RCB in their efforts to buy the prize stud. DD was flush with funds having let go all their players – including Kevin Pietersen – and RCB was bent in diminishing DD funds, as admitted by their representative who bid in the auction.
Yuvraj Singh’s worth as a cricketer can never be underestimated. There are very few Indian cricketers who can change the game on its head and Yuvraj is one of them. DD team coach Gary Kirsten, who guided team India to become number one in Test cricket and win the ICC World Cup in 2011, has worked closely with Yuvraj and knows the difference he can make to his new team.
There seems to be good chemistry between Yuvraj and “Gaza” Kirsten, whom he described in his tweets as a “very special man” soon after he was signed up by DD. Kirsten’s push for Yuvraj must have been happily reciprocated by the team’s marketers who can now push for an all-India campaign with their latest icon.
Strictly, in business terms, DD have clinched a sure-fire winner who is bound to attract sponsors at a very good price. What impact will Yuvraj have as a cricketer, one will only know after the tournament kicks off this April. Meanwhile, one is still trying to figure out why RCB spent Rs10.5 crore for Dinesh Kartik.
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