DC Edit | IPL rewards reach young desis
Remarkable as Team India’s comeback victory was in the Perth Test against Australia, the biggest in terms of runs Down Under, the series is just beginning, and they have much to do to keep their Test ranking and make it to the WTC final.
Jasprit Bumrah’s performance as the stand-in skipper was instrumental in exposing the Australian batting after Indian batters had not made too much of an improvement in their first outing though they showed greater sparks of a fighting spirit.
The value of Indian cricketers may have shot up too as Indian stars dominated the IPL auction 2025 with Rishabh Pant, Shreyas Iyer and Venkatesh Iyer all getting a prince’s ransom for their services with the most expensive IPL player ever tag going to Pant’s 27-crore deal with Lucknow Super Giants.
Indian pace bowlers also hit pay dirt, their utility value surpassing those of some foreign quicks who were all the rage up to last year with the Australian, Mitchell Starc, becoming the most expensive buy at an auction, at Rs 24 crores.
This swing to rewarding young desi talent with big bucks, which had been the preserve of the superstars like M.S. Dhoni, Virat Kohli, Hardik Pandya and a few others, marks a democratised IPL with the value of local players rising higher.
Some of the more established stars who were thought of as prodigies like the opening batter Prithvi Shaw were not wanted this time while teenager Vaibhav Suryavanshi, at 13 the youngest ever to win an IPL contract, hit the road to the big stage in winning a contract for Rs 1.10 crores.
International cricket systems of other countries have begun marvelling at the kind of talent and bench strength that Indian cricket and Team India seem to possess. Suryavanshi’s example of a talented batter hitting the headlines with an international century at the youngest age for India Under-19 against Australia when he made 104 off 62 balls, simply validates a system that seems to be working from the grassroots.
Indian cricketers who have benefited the most from exposure in IPL’s big stage since 2008 are seen now as the most prodigiously talented in the cricket world as more players press their claims for recognition and opportunities to play international cricket at the highest level.