After the Indian Premier League grand auction was completed, there were quite a few surprises in the selection of teams and more on the amount of money spent on the cricketers.

While some of them, like MS Dhoni and Andrew Symonds, might have secretly expected a payment similar to what they finally landed, others like Ishant Sharma and David Hussey would have been thrilled at such a windfall.

The Bangalore squad have done a thoughtful job in selecting multi-faceted players who are likely to play the inaugural season.

'With financial security guaranteed there might be a surge of youngsters opting for cricket as a career'


The Aussie players are not in contention for the first season because of their Pakistan tour. In this context, was it worth the amount of money that was spent on their regular players? Even if they don't play, those who have signed the contract stand to gain 25 per cent of the amount promised.

Cricket is slowly becoming a profession of choice in India, with the money available. A few decades back, it used to be the passion of youngsters with stories of how they would fight their parents to let them play the game that they loved.

Now, with financial security guaranteed, it might lead to a surge of youngsters opting for the game as a career.

The other is how profitable will this venture be? Will it be a win-win situation for the stakeholders, BCCI, the franchises and players. Obviously the players stand to gain but it remains to be seen how profitable it will be for BCCI and the franchises.

The franchises will make use of their million-dollar players and with all the money being splashed about, talk of long cricketing schedules have gone out of the window. You won't hear the players moaning about schedules - players will be paid reasonably for the efforts they put in on the field.

There is also the issue of injury; what happens if a player gets injured during the IPL tournament? Who will foot the bill? Will it prevent a player appearing for his country?

Country boards stand to gain from the IPL as the BCCI has agreed to share some of the spoils and it's safe to say Twenty20 has finally emerged as a viable format in world cricket.