The IPL auction has started. I don’t like it. I don’t like the IPL in general, but the auction is particularly hateful. In a way it’s the IPL in a nutshell, with a lot of light, sound and flying money. Even if it had no effect on any other type of cricket, even if it was the only thing keeping Test cricket alive I would not enjoy it. It’s garish. It’s just a spectacle for the sake thereof; there is really no need to allot players in that manner. One of the things I love about cricket is it’s quiet grace, the IPL and the IPL auction are the very antithesis of that.
But of course it’s part of the IPL, so it does affect other cricket and it inherits the same selfishness as the rest of the IPL, and indeed the BCCI in general. This year, as in many years, the auction conflicts with a Test match. The BCCI have never bothered to time the auction in such a way as to not conflict with proper fixtures, much the same way they do not bother to plan the IPL itself around international fixtures. It really should not be allowed. Not because of the division of coverage and public attention, that sort of thing tends to be unavoidable, but because of the distraction to the cricketers who are supposed to be playing for their countries.
Basically it’s another giant, loud, garish and imposing display of decadence and selfishness by the BCCI. I hate it.
Defensive Indifference 