There is a limit to human need, but not to human greed

Mahatma Gandhi once said somewhat similar words, when talking about the virtue of satisfaction.

And that is precisely one has come to realize when one hears about players' opinion (real or imaginary) on the money on offer (after bidding) in IPL.

That is why, reading Anand Vasu’s story in HT was such an eye opener. He calculated that some players could still be getting close to Rs 10 lakh per game, or an almost 500 per cent increase from what they are paid to play for India in an ODI (2.2 lakh)!

Imagine ten lakh per 150 minute of cricket! At least three of these players will be the ones who had no role to play in Indian’s twenty20 triumph, but will benefit from their iconic status (Icons certainly they are, but not of twenty20 version) .

Still there were calls to have no cap on bidding amount! Predictably, big groups which stand to gain most, are behind such campaign. And why not? If they have made such big bids, they would like their teams to be packed with all superstars, leaving crumbs for the smaller franchises. They do not like to get beaten. Never in business, and cricket is big business.

Mercifully, they have not succeeded as it could have killed the league in its very first year. After all, nothing is more injurious to the health of the game than seeing one or two teams winning almost all their games.

By putting cap, it has been ensured that some sanity has been restored to the proceedings. Hopefully, this arrangement will not be tampered with for next few years.

By investing more in their teams' training, and getting best possible support staff, the serious ones (read big corporates) can still call the shots. What IPL needs is big time cricketing investment, and not just investment in cricketers. They will be serving cricket more by seeing that.

To round it off, in a country where 1/5th of the rural population still survives on Rs 12 a day, some people getting 83333 times more (at Rs 10 lakh per game. Even one lakh per game will make it 8333 times more!), and still hoping for more can be quite sickening.