There has been a lot of hoppla about how the IPL auction went. Some people made some ridiculous amounts of money in that frenzied bidding. But now that the dust has settled down, I want to ask the question: Was the IPL auction conducted in the most optimal manner?

Look at some of the numbers. They just don’t make sense. Andrew Symonds. Made Rs 5.4 Crores. Just a few weeks ago everyone in India hated him for trying to game the system and get Harbhajan into trouble. I can’t imagine what the Hyderabad team thought will make him a popular player? What justified him to be the highest paid international player in the IPL? He’s making nearly 3 times as much as Gilchrist!

Then there is this issue of the “Icon Players”. Players like Sachin and Sourav were not included in the auction, but were pre-assigned to their home teams. They were supposed to get 15% more than the highest paid cricketer on their team. I think the intent was to make these folks the highest paid, but that’s definitely not happened. Andrew Symonds is going to make more than Sachin.

I’m starting to wonder if there was some other motive than skill involved in selecting the players?