For six weeks, cricket’s leading players "get to live like the stars of other world sports," according to Paul Radley of THE NATIONAL.
Top-bracket Indian players earn about $200,000 annually.
For the same amount of time in the Indian Premier League, Yuvraj Singh, who "fetched the highest price of any player in the most recent auction," will earn $1.5M -- 100 times more.
It "is not far behind the stars of other sports." After his lucrative summer transfer, Gareth Bale reportedly earns about $2M per month playing football for Real Madrid.
The IPL market "significantly exceeds anything offered by the other T20 leagues and is a world away from what cricket could offer before the IPL’s inception in 2008." The contracts that began this season "are guaranteed for only one campaign, but the franchises have the option of retaining the players for up to three seasons."
While for the game’s biggest stars the IPL "means the rich get richer, for players of middling repute success," an auction can be life changing (THE NATIONAL, 4/9).
