KKR CEO Venky Mysore opines against IPL mega auctions

Kolkata Knight Riders’ chief executive, Venky Mysore, reckoned that the mega auction shouldn’t be the way forward any more in the Indian Premier League. His statement came after the retention for the 2022 IPL took place on Tuesday, November 30. The Knights retained Andre Russell, Venkatesh Iyer, Sunil Narine and Varun Chakravarthy as their four players for the upcoming edition.

The Knights will go into the most-awaited mega auction with a purse of INR 48 crores, having already spent INR 42 crores from their overall purse of INR 90 crores. Mysore was of the opinion that the mega auction has become outdated and the BCCI and IPL committee should look into ‘drafts’, ‘trades’ or ‘loans’ going into the future.

“There is a tipping point that’s coming for the league where you have to question whether a big auction is really something that needs to be part of this whole process. Or you can do drafts for new players coming in, you can do trades, you can do loans and allow teams to build something for the long haul,” Mysore told ESPNcricinfo.

The big auction has outlived its usefulness, says Venky Mysore

Delhi Capitals co-owner Parth Jindal also echoed the KKR CEO’s words. The Capitals went for Rishabh Pant, Axar Patel, Prithvi Shaw and Anrich Nortje as their four picks. However, they couldn’t retain players of the calibre of Shreyas Iyer, Shikhar Dhawan and Kagiso Rabada among others.

“It was heart-breaking to lose Shreyas Iyer, Shikhar Dhawan, a Kagiso Rabada, an Ashwin,” Jindal was quoted as saying on Star Sports. As far as the Knights are concerned, they had to let go prolific performers like Shubman Gill, Nitish Rana, Pat Cummins and Lockie Ferguson.

Mysore also called for rewarding IPL teams for churning out talented players through their academies and scouting systems.

“Directionally at this stage, if you ask me since the league has completed 14 years, the big auction has outlived its usefulness. And you have to reward franchises investing in scouting and academies, in growth. We have done that with KKR Academy and we have our scouting structure, both domestic (and) international,” Mysore added.

10 teams are set to feature in the IPL mega auction for the 2022 edition, which is expected to take place in the month of December or January.