The 2008 IPL Draft

The Indian Premier League is considered by most the best T20 league in the world. The IPL is home to the best cricket players from around the world. In short, it is the festival that celebrates the spirit of cricket like nothing else. But the thing that makes it so special the constant inclusion and promotion of the young players especially from India. This massive launchpad created for the young cricketers has given Indian Cricket generational talents like Jasprit Bumrah, KL Rahul which have been pivotal in the success of the team in the recent past.

When the IPL started in 2008 no one knew what to expect from the tournament and the same kind of confusion was regarding the allotment of players to the teams. Then the idea of the player auction inspired by Christie's art auction came about. This was considered a very transparent method of player allotment as the teams paid what they bid. This auction was only done for the capped Indian and international players where MS Dhoni, the former Indian captain was the most expensive player to be sold in the auction that year. The Chennai Super Kings paid the massive some of US $1.5 million to acquire the services of captain cool.

The IPL also allotted "Icon Players" to a few teams, these players were belonging to a specific city that also had an IPL franchise. These players were Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, VVS Laxman, Rahul Dravid, Yuvraj Singh and Sourav Ganguly who were appointed to the franchises based in their home towns.

The teams could sign other players who were playing the domestic tournaments directly at the base price of $50,000. As the auction was just for the capped players, the allotment of the U-19 players who had just won the world cup was raised. Then it was decided that the U-19 players would be allotted through a draft system similar to the NBA or NFL. The franchises were randomly allotted numbers from 1 to 8. The franchise assigned the number 1 got the choice of picking player first and then the second franchise and so on. After eight players were picked, the order of the bidding reversed. This draft included all the 15 players part of the India U-19 team. Surprisingly, Virat Kohli, the captain of that world cup winning team, wasn't the first pick, whereas the Delhi Daredevils with the first pick selected Pradeep Sangwan.

Looking back at the players included in this draft, several players went on to play for the Indian team and became successful cricketers. Virat Kohli and Ravindra Jadeja become great players who have been pivotal in the success of the Indian Team whereas someone like Pradeep Sangwan and Saurabh Tiwary had the potential but could never perform on the biggest stage.

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