From the inaugural season till 2018, Richard Madley served as the auctioneer for the IPL auctions. He recently got into a chat with Indian spinner Ravichandran Ashwin and talked about various pivotal moments from the history of IPL auctions.
Madley recounted how the great leg-spinner Shane Warne was bought at his base price by Rajasthan Royals. It turned out to be one of the smartest purchases of the auction as Warne-led Rajasthan Royals won the IPL 2008.
“I thought okay here’s Warnie and this will be interesting, his base price was I think around 400000 US dollars. That’s what he sold for at his base price to Rajasthan Royals and I thought at that time that was a smart move.
It’s a smart move because at the end of his career but someone remarkably successful, experienced, charismatic and who was a leader. They bought Shane Warne and what did Rajasthan Royals do in IPL one, they won it.”, Madley said on Ashwin’s Youtube Channel.
The former IPL auctioneer also revealed how MS Dhoni caused a bidding war during the inaugural IPL auctions. “Then out of the bag came the man himself, the ultimate all-rounder Mahendra Singh Dhoni, and there we saw the first bidding war of many in the IPL auctions.”, Madley said.
Dhoni became the most expensive player in IPL 2008 auctions, when he was signed for USD 1.5 million by Chennai Super Kings. CSK won a hard fought battle against Mumbai Indians in the auctions to buy Dhoni. ‘Captain Cool’ has led the Chennai team to four IPL titles since then.
Just found my one and only auction sheet for the historic first ever #VIVOIPL auction in 2008.@msdhoni sold to @ChennaiIPL A rare piece of cricket memorabilia
Will be watching #CSKvMI on @hotstarUK #CricketMeriJaan #WhistlePodu #VIVOIPLFinal pic.twitter.com/5M5qY2tPy5— Richard Madley (@iplauctioneer) May 12, 2019
Richard Madley On Punjab’s auction strategy
Madley also had a witty interpretation on the Punjab Kings’ auction strategy, claiming that their tactics often surprised him.
“I never knew what was going to happen. I had no idea who they were going to bid for. A strategy, if there was one, was kept so secret that not even the person holding the necessarily seem to know.”, Madley stated.
Meanwhile, the IPL 2022 mega-auction will be organized in Bengaluru on February 12 & 13.
