Introduction AB de Villiers is the only batsman in cricket history who made T20 cricket look like it was designed specifically for him. His 360-degree hitting — the ability to play any delivery in any direction with equal power — was not a party trick or a showreel highlight. It was his natural batting method,...
Introduction On January 20, 2008, in a Mumbai hotel ballroom, eight franchises sat with paddles and bid sheets and changed cricket’s economy forever. The first IPL auction was not just a sporting event — it was the establishment of an entirely new market for cricketing talent, one that would grow within 17 years into the...
Introduction When the IPL began in 2008, conventional wisdom in T20 cricket said that wrist-spin was a risk — too expensive, too many loose deliveries, too vulnerable to the aggressive batting that the format encouraged. Fourteen seasons later, leg-spinners top the IPL’s all-time wicket charts, command the highest prices at spin-bowling auctions, and are universally...
Introduction Pune Warriors India were one of the two franchises that entered the IPL in 2011, expanding the competition to ten teams. They had big spending, ambitious plans, and a squad that included Yuvraj Singh, Sourav Ganguly, and later Virender Sehwag. They played three seasons, never made the playoffs, accumulated grievances with the BCCI about...
Introduction It is not a coincidence. The fact that Jasprit Bumrah, Hardik Pandya, and a succession of world-class pace bowlers have come through Mumbai Indians’ system is the product of a specific franchise philosophy about fast bowling that dates back to Lasith Malinga’s arrival in 2009. Mumbai Indians have not been lucky to find great...
Introduction Before the IPL, Indian cricketers’ exposure to the world’s best players came through international matches: occasional series, tours, and global tournaments that might total 50-60 matches per year for the busiest players. The IPL changed that completely. From 2008 onwards, India’s domestic players were competing in the same dressing rooms, the same training sessions,...
Introduction Every December, a room in an Indian city fills up with franchise representatives, television cameras, and a group of young cricketers whose careers — and financial lives — will be changed irreversibly by an afternoon of bidding. The IPL auction is cricket’s most dramatic institutional ritual. For uncapped Indian players, it represents an opportunity...
Introduction Every sport has its legendary home grounds — places where visiting teams know, before a ball is bowled, that they are at a structural disadvantage. In the IPL, no home advantage is as consistently decisive as Chennai Super Kings at the M. A. Chidambaram Stadium, more commonly known as Chepauk. Over 17 IPL seasons,...
Introduction In 2013, Mumbai Indians made a decision that looked controversial at the time and looks visionary in hindsight: they replaced Ricky Ponting — one of the greatest captains in cricket history — with Rohit Sharma, a 26-year-old who had shown exceptional batting talent but no evidence that he could lead a complex franchise at...
Introduction When KKR signed Varun Chakravarthy at the 2019 IPL auction for Rs. 8.4 crore, the cricket world said: who? He was 27 years old. He had played a handful of Tamil Nadu domestic matches. He had studied and practiced architecture. He was not on anyone’s list of top Indian spin prospects. Within 18 months,...