Leg Buys: Former England captain Michael Vaughan pans ‘ridiculous’ IPL clash, Warner’s next move, Ponting eyes Fraser-McGurk
Michael Vaughan has not held back in his criticism of the BCCI’s timing for the upcoming Indian Premier League mega auction, describing it as ‘ridiculous’. Find out why in DANIEL CHERNY’s latest edition of Leg Buys.
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Former England captain Michael Vaughan has taken aim at the BCCI’s “ridiculous” decision to schedule the Indian Premier League mega auction during the first Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series.
While attention in Australia will overwhelming be drawn towards the series opener between the Aussies and India beginning in Perth on Friday, the IPL auction – being held in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia on Sunday and Monday – will hold sway for various cricket luminaries including Australian bowling coach Daniel Vettori, who will leave his Aussie post to attend the auction in his guise as head coach of Sunrisers Hyderabad.
There is a similar clash for former Aussie stars and now Channel 7 commentators Ricky Ponting and Justin Langer, who coach the Punjab Kings and Lucknow Super Giants respectively.
Vaughan, who will be part of Fox Cricket’s coverage this summer, couldn’t fathom why Indian administrators would schedule the event to overlap with such a big Test, especially given many of the on-field protagonists including Rishabh Pant, Ravichandran Ashwin, Mitchell Starc and Steve Smith will be up for grabs.
“I don’t agree with the fact that they put the IPL auction in the middle of the first Test. I think it’s ridiculous,” Vaughan told this masthead.
“We’ve got a nine day break in between the first and the second (Tests) why they’re putting it there when you know the players are under pressure playing in a Test match, why they’d want to sway the profile of that Test match onto an IPL auction in Saudi I’m not too sure.”
WARNER UP FOR GRABS
This is not just any auction either, it is the triennial mega event at which almost all players go back into the player pool with the exception of a handful retained by their respective clubs.
Of Australians, only Pat Cummins and Travis Head (both Sunrisers) have been kept, meaning the likes of Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis, Josh Hazlewood and Mitch Marsh are also on the market.
So too is David Warner, who will be in Perth on commentary duties for Fox. Warner was on the books of the Delhi Capitals last season but at 38 says he has tempered his expectations.
“It doesn’t bother me where I end up or if I don’t get picked up. It’s just one of those things. It’s a big auction. I’m actually looking forward to seeing how the teams build their side, and for the first time, you’ve got a lot of talented Indians and some high profile Indians that are back in the auction which is exciting foe the game,” Warner told this masthead.
“The likes of Rishabh Pant, Shreyas Iyer, Ishan Kishan’s back in there as well. So I think it’s good for the for the game, and it’ll be interesting to see different players in different colours.”
RED ROOSTER?
There will be considerable intrigue too around Warner’s former Delhi teammate and Aussie protege Jake Fraser-McGurk, who was also not retained but could yet stay with the Capitals via the auction’s right-to-match mechanism, where clubs can match the highest bid on a player who had been on the team’s books in 2024.
Ponting coached Warner and Fraser-McGurk at Delhi and Warner said he wouldn’t be surprised if the former Aussie captain tried to land the youngster at his new club.
“(Punjab has) got the biggest purse, so it’s pretty much who they wanted to go after and target,” Warner said.
“I know he’s got a good relationship with Rishab. He’s got a good relationship with Shreyas Iyer. Jakey could go to (the Kings) but Delhi have the right-to-match card there, which is they can sit back and wait patiently, so it’s gonna be interesting to see what they do.
“But whatever happens (Punjab) should probably have the best look on paper off after the auction.”
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Originally published as Leg Buys: Former England captain Michael Vaughan pans ‘ridiculous’ IPL clash, Warner’s next move, Ponting eyes Fraser-McGurk
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