Name Auctions

Before the grand launch

Amidst the flow of regular b-school life, a wave of cheer is evident among the students after the 7th season of the sports League of IMT Hyderabad (IHL) for cricket has been announced; IHL cricket is our own version of “IPL” where different clubs from IMT Hyderabad collaborate to execute an intra-campus league event.

IHL cricket 7.0 saw enthusiastic participation from IMTians with more than 100 registrations. Students could register either as players or owners or both. From these entries, five owner groups were created with 5 members each.

Once the registrations were completed, on 23rd August, Altius the sports club of IMT Hyderabad hosted the name auction for the 7th season of IHL cricket where the owner groups will bid for their team names from the virtual fund of 100 million allocated to each team.

The five names queued for the name auctions were- The Dark Risers, The Lycans, The Mavericks, The Versatiles, The Thunderbolts.

As the auction started, the first name which went up for sale was The Dark Risers. Owners were asked to submit their bids on papers which was regulated by team Altius and the name was sold for the highest bid of 0.34 million.

The highest bid for this season’s name auction was made for The Thunderbolts at a price of 0.6 million; Owners on being asked for their rationale behind choosing the particular names, felt nostalgic and mentioned their loyalty to the team name from the previous IHL season and past winning trends as reason behind their winning bids.

Player Auctions

The second phase of the IHL auctions kicked off with the bidding for the colours these athletes are going to represent in their upcoming matches. The owners were careful to calculate the amount to spend in the ‘Jersey colour auction’ after which they must bid for the in-form players.

The auction ended with team Thunderbolts spending a generous 1.6 million in commemoration to our national team’s jersey, blue. Following which team Mavericks won the bid for black at 1.25 million, then team Lycans won the yellow jersey for 0.36 million following team Darkrisers who spent 0.66 million on their grey jersey.

The much anticipated ‘Player selection auction’ involved a lot of adrenaline rush, with owners competing against each other to get the best of the best players. All the teams came out with the look of a winner on their faces, now leaving it up to their ace players to back their decisions.


The player acquired for the highest price of a ginormous 23 million by team Mavericks was one of the best performers last year; Mr. Akash Kumar Singh, an all-rounder. Not trailing by far, for 21 million; team Versatiles snatched Mr. Rishabh Nahata, a wicket-keeper-cum-batsman. Equally sought for, Mr. Shivam Rai, a bowler, was bagged for 20 million by team Lycans.

The owners of the teams justified their selections backed up with strategic data from past matches of the players, number crunching of last year’s IHL while also keeping in mind their prearranged strategies along with their formulated financial blueprint.

The top players were interviewed and as a general sentiment, all of them were ecstatic and pumped to deliver for their respective teams.

AKASH KUMAR SINGH (Acquired for 23 million by Mavericks)

“I’ve played cricket all my life. Second division cricket for Jharkhand was a high point for me. It doesn’t matter how much you’re bought for unless you perform. I was bought for only 3.75 million last year but won best performer. I’m a prime batsman and a part-time bowler and I hope I can help my team as much as I can on both fronts to achieve what we must. One player doesn’t decide the future of a team. I’m only as good as my team is and it looks quite bright to me.”

RISHABH NAHATA (Acquired for 21 million by Versatiles)

“Having a lot of experience in playing competitively including State level under-17 in West Bengal, subsequent District level and corporate matches gives me an edge to push my team towards victory. I’m an opening batsman and will make sure to set up a good foundation for my team to work on. I’m reliable under pressure and feel responsible for the actions my team takes and so will guide them to make the right ones.”

SIDDHARTH SINGH (Acquired for 13 million by Thunderbolts)

“Cricket has been my passion, my pastime, my stress-buster. It’s the best feeling being supported by your team and it drives me to do more. I feel immensely proud to be the junior who has been bid for the most money, I will represent my team and help them win.”

Only time will tell…

The team behind the event

The beauty of sports is its unpredictability. There could be inexperienced players who could become stars. There could be past records that could be broken. The essence of this unknown is what makes sports very exciting. We can’t wait to see what this year’s IHL has in store for us.

About the author,

    Mihir Airan and Abrar Ali Khan

Pareidolia Blogger, Class of 2019-21