An intense three-day Hockey India League player auction concluded on Tuesday with eight men's teams and four women's sides filling up their quota of 24 players. While all teams tried their best to come up with a balanced squad, of course a lot will now depend on how it will eventually turn out on the pitch.
The auction has also thrown up a few interesting trends and takeaways. Some of them are obvious but there are a few not-so-obvious ones.
From 2013 to 2024, the rise of Indian players
Back in 2013 when the first Hockey India League auction took place, it was pretty clear that the foreign players were in big demand. Four of the six costliest players were foreigners and a squad of 24 could feature 10 overseas players.
Now in 2024, with HIL returning after a gap of seven years, a lot has changed. Eight of the top ten highest paid men's players are all Indians and there's just one foreigner (Yibbi Jansen of Netherlands) among top 10 highest paid women at the auction. Only eight foreigners are allowed in a squad, with four on the pitch.
Back in 2013, India hockey was struggling, with the men's team finishing last at the 2012 London Olympics. Now 11 years later, they have two Olympic medals to show with quite a few world class players in their squad. The likes of Harmanpreet Singh, Abhishek, Hardik Singh, Amit Rohidas, Sumit and Manpreet Singh are not only India's best but also counted among the world's elite. It's not a surprise then, that all franchises preferred to go big for Indian players.
Why did a few big foreign names go cheap?
Delhi SG Pipers spent Rs 18 lakh on German talisman Christopher Ruhr but Rs 20 lakh on Ankit Pal, who's yet to make senior national team debut. Tamil Nadu Dragons spent Rs 24 lakh on local boy Selvam Karthi while one of Australia's best, Nathan Ephraums, cost just Rs 17 lakh.
Even Zach Wallace, again one of world's best creative midfielders, was sold for just Rs 26 lakh on the second day of the auction to Hyderabad, who spent Rs 23 lakh on youngster Rajinder Singh. There are examples in all the teams where young but unproven players went for a higher price than the best international players.
It could be because franchises believe in Indian players and their ability to deliver in a home competition more than the foreign players. Or it could because of the playing conditions where 7 out of 11 players have to be Indians. Nevertheless, a talented domestic player getting rewarded in an auction is a good thing and this high-quality league is a right platform to prove themselves.
Big money for dragflickers
Harmanpreet (78 lakh), Gonzalo Peillat (68 lakh), Jip Janssen (54 lakh), Jeremy Hayward (42 lakh), Kane Russell (30 lakh), Blake Govers (27 lakh) and Yibbi Jansen (29 lakh).
Modern hockey is all about scoring goals and any successful team will have at least one world class penalty corner expert in their ranks. The big bucks for dragflickers was more or less expected. Players like Harmanpreet, Piellat and Janssen have been instrumental in title-winning teams and that's because of their dragflicking skills.
Teams who do not have a consistent scorer from penalty corners usually suffer.
No Asian player at HIL
Asian hockey is not at its best and that can be gauged from the fact that there will be no men or women players from other Asian countries at the Hockey India League.
There were players from Japan in the men's auction, however, Malaysia and South Korea had none. Other than India, none of the Asian nations made it to the Paris Olympics, however, the Chinese women's team made significant improvements and won silver in Paris. Again, it's not clear as to why no women's Chinese player entered the auction.
Rs 2 crore purse for women's teams too less?
While the men's teams had Rs 4 crore to play with, the total purse for a women's team was just Rs 2 crore. It's always tough to fill up a squad of 24 players with Rs 2 crore and what created more confusion was when the total number of teams came down to four instead of six.
A majority of the national and international players kept their base price high considering the number of teams but when it came down to four, their value also came down. Hence, a few Indian core members and international players with a base price of Rs 10 lakh went unsold in the opening round. Which then resulted in a change in the middle of the auction by the HIL Governing Committee - where it gave permission for players to bring down their base price.
The likes of Preeti Dubey, Deepika Soreng, Madhuri Kindo, Rutaja Dadaso Pisal and Akshata Abaso Dhekale were sold later in the day, however, somebody like Monika, a national team regular remained unsold as she didn't bring her base price down. Also, there could be a situation where a few foreign players who were sold at their base price might consider skipping the league.
A slightly bigger purse would've been better for all parties and players could've gone at a price they think they are worth.