Diamonds in the rough: How IPL is changing fabric of our cricket

The number of uncapped players picked up in the auction and money spent is steadily rising as franchise scouting programmes gain currency

- Rasesh Mandani

The IPL talent scout WhatsApp groups are constantly buzzing in the lead up to the player auctions. Some of these groups have just the scouts and coaching staff, others have even the CEOs and there is at least one group where even the franchise owner is a participant. With every local match watched and documented, gone are the days when swathes of cricket talent would go untapped, with only the 15 who play for India bagging their spot in the limelight.

There is this fairly well-known story of Parthiv Patel suggesting to the then RCB captain Virat Kohli to watch this up and coming Gujarat fast bowler with an awkward action. The star batter had other things on his plate. Jasprit Bumrah was scouted and hunted down by the Mumbai Indians.

If it was today, any bowler with rare traits would be routed to the scouting division, his action studied for forensic analysis before being cleared for customised trials. If more than one franchise were chasing him, multiple scouts would then be seated in far corners of a nondescript ground watching local matches to evaluate his match temperament.

RCB might have been late to join the party, but are up to speed now. Even though Mangesh Yadav's name came up for bidding late in Tuesday's IPL auction, they had preserved enough cash to bag him for ₹ 5.2 crore, because the Madhya Pradesh left-arm pacer was their designated target as a backup for Yash Dayal.