IPL - ICON players on sale but who wants them

Lalit Modi, the brain behind Indian Premier League, has made it very clear that ICON players can be dropped or can be bought by other franchises. I feel there are more chances of ICON players being dropped except Yuvraj and Sehwag. No franchise will be willing to pay close to 4 crore to get the likes of Rahul Dravid, Saurav Ganguly and VVS Lakshman in their team.

In fact Rahul and Lakshman are among the top scorers from their side but the problem is that these guys are not good leaders. After resigning as the captain of Indian team, Rahul should not have taken up the captaincy of Bangalore Royal Challengers. The team Royal Challengers is more of a challenge outside the field (to its owner and CEO )rather than to the opposition. The part of the blame should definitely go to the captain and to his team selection.

The case of Saurav Ganguly is entirely different. He was and is afraid of fast bowlers and keeps getting out to them quite regularly. He has not been able to score at all in this edition of IPL so far. His captaincy is lacking and he is no longer showing the confidence as he used to when he was at the helm of Indian team.


VVS Lakshman looks lost on the field. It is Gilly who looks to be making more decisions on the field. One could see the way Deccan Chargers performed under Gilly. They had the confidence and desire to win the match that was lacking in the team in the previous matches.

All these ICON players never appreciated the fact that Indians are the world champion in T20 format of cricket. No one including Sachin Tendulkar came out to appreciate the young Indian team that won the inaugural T20 World Cup in South Africa. Every now and then, these people keep trying to undermine the achievements of the youngsters in this format of cricket. This is what Saurav Ganguly said on the way youngsters have out performed seniors, includng himself. "Let's not jump up and down too much at their performance in Twenty20. As a player, I'd love to see them perform in five dayers and 50-over games. That's where the real test lies". Is this what is expected from a veteran like Saurav Ganguly. Who would want a guy like him to be the captain of their team? Youngsters would not be able to perform at all under this kind of leader. This is a 180 degree shift for a person who once used to support and encourage youngsters. The reason being that he has understood that his days in the world of cricket are numbered, he is trying to save his ass.

Players like Nayar from Mumbai Indians, Asnodkar from Rajasthan Royals have done really well in this edition of IPL. It would be in the interest of franchises owners to catch these kinds of talents as they have contributed same or more than ICON players for fees that is way less than what ICON players are getting. This will also help in improving the cricket in India as these so far unknown guys will get chance to rub their shoulders with the best of international and national cricketers like Gilly, Shane Waney, Pollock, Yuvraj and many more.