Praveen, Badrinath benefit from lower base price

Medium-pacer Praveen Kumar had opted for a base price of INR 2 crore [approximately $333,000] in the player auction in 2014. He remained unsold. In 2015, he lowered his base price to INR 50 lakh [approximately $83333] and fetched a final price of INR 2.2 crore [approximately $367000], after more than two teams bid competitively for him.

Praveen's sale is an example of how the base price was an important factor in determining who got bought this year, despite going unsold in 2014. He was lucky in 2014, when Mumbai Indians signed him as a replacement because Zaheer Khan got injured. But others like him, who set a higher base price, had to miss out on the whole IPL season.

Praveen told ESPNcricinfo the decision to lower his base price wasn't his. "I don't understand the concept of base price. Neither did I fix the price last year nor did I do so this year. It's my brother who takes care of such matters."

Praveen wasn't alone in going unsold in 2014. Batsman S Badrinath, who also didn't get a bid last year with a base price of INR 1 crore, also benefitted from a reduced price this time. He was bought by Royal Challengers Bangalore at base price for INR 30 lakh.

"Auction is honestly not under my control. It is dictated by so many factors," Badrinath said. "For me, the important thing was to play in the IPL, and play well. That was my top priority. That's why I went for this base price."

Even left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha, who had a base price of INR 2 crore last year, and was subsequently bought by Mumbai Indians for INR 3.25 crore, made a significant cut this year. Ojha, who had his action cleared by the BCCI only days before the auction, was bought again by Mumbai Indians for his base price of INR 50 lakh.

The franchises said players have become smarter. "The auction dynamics are such that when you lower the base price you have a better chance of teams getting involved," Venky Mysore, Kolkata Knight Riders' managing director and chief executive, said. "They have realised that many of them would fetch more with a lower base price than having a higher base price."

Several England cricketers have failed to attract bids over the years because of their high base price. This year, they were joined by some of their Australian and West Indies counterparts.

"The best example is Marlon Samuels and Cameron White. They put 1.5 crore [as their reserve price]. Had they put 50 lakh, may be they would have ended up with 1.5 crore," said TA Sekhar, director of Delhi Daredevils. "If a franchise has a budget of 1 crore for a player, it can extend it by about 50 lakh. Beyond that it will not go. Last year, David Hussey asked me, I told him to put Rs 50 lakh. This year also, he somehow put 1 crore and didn't get a bid."

Irfan Pathan also suffered because of a high base price. He remained unsold in the first round and got a solitary bid for his base price of INR 1.5 crore [approximately $250,000] when the franchises could recall some of the unsold players.

The exception among those with a higher base price was medium-pacer Zaheer Khan. He is recovering after breaking down in the 2014 IPL but was bought by Daredevils for INR 4 crore [approximately $667,000] - four times his reserve price. Daredevils didn't let him go even when Mumbai Indians big competitively to buy Zaheer back.

"In case of Zaheer Khan, it was purposely that both us and Mumbai Indians waited for the second round. They also thought that maybe they would get him cheaper but we had to have him on board and went all the way for him, so the players should realise lowering the base price always works better."