 IPL auction changes Ishant's life forever
21st Feb 2008 18:06 IST
Agencies
The morning after the Indian Premier League auction, when their phones did not stop ringing, most Indian cricketers stayed put in their hotel rooms in Australia and reflected on the seismic event, which has changed their lives forever.
For long, they hankered with their board about suitable gradations and now an open market has reflected their true worth.
Or has it? For young Ishant Sharma fetched a price in the auction ($950,000) which outstripped the likes of Anil Kumble and Muttiah Muralitharan, Chaminda Vaas and Brett Lee, Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath.
Sharma, all of 6'4" and still growing, is not yet 20 and in five Tests and seven one-day internationals, has only eight wickets to boast. Yet his $950,000 is nearly twice the amount, which his captain Kumble has commanded.
Kumble has spent as many summers in the field as Sharma has seen in his young life. It is the brand value and salability among youth, rather than quality and longevity, which has dictated the market.
Sharma, the success story of the present tour, is reaping beyond his wildest dreams. A destiny's child, he cooled his heels in the Melbourne Test despite picking a five-wicket haul in the previous game for India. Injury to Zaheer Khan marked his return in Sydney.
Kumble's words 'Ek Aur Over Karega' in Perth when he clearly already had overbowled an over or two, was the cataclysmic moment of his life.
He kept getting the big wickets, Ricky Ponting all the time, and reviews only got better.
Javagal Srinath has no doubt Sharma was better than him at his age. He predicted the young Delhi fast bowler could be the best in the world in due course. Australian Damien Fleming had a similar refrain on the young beanpole of a bowler. Steve Waugh, Terry Alderman, Kapil Dev, everyone kept gushing and it seems all such praise was adding those extra thousands of dollars to his worth.
Pakistan speedster Shoaib Akhtar, who would now bowl along with him for the Kolkata franchise, wants India to use him sparingly. He has injury concerns for the young bowler, for the teenager is hurling his thunderbolts without concern, be it in the nets or in the middle of a match.
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