Arrogant IPL owners must admit mistakes

In his column in The Times, Michael Atherton compares the IPL’s Rajasthan Royals to baseball’s Oakland As, a relatively low-budget team who consistently outperformed their more illustrious and wealthier rivals by dint of the unorthodox coaching methods of Billy Beane, their general manager.

Rajasthan, at $67million the cheapest franchise, the one that angered Lalit Modi, the IPL commissioner, for underspending on players in the first auction, are top of the league and looking forward to the semi-finals. The most expensive franchises, Mumbai Indians ($111.9million) and Bangalore Royal Challengers ($111.6million), are out. Bangalore, in particular, have had a miserable time; the whipping boys, more chumps than challengers.

Vijay Mallya … did give the impression that, with some mates for company, he had drawn up a list of names on the back of a fag packet, after downing a cask or two of his own brand of whiskey, while watching his Formula One team, Force India, on board his luxury yacht.