Other voices

Cricket is not going to change, but the unfortunate side is that cricketers have become commodities ... just commodities. If I look at you like some sort of vegetable, is it good for you? You should be looked at for your quality, as a cricketer ... a talented cricketer.

— Erapalli Prasanna , former Indian spinner.

I thought I might have been able to attract a little bit more than that. The fact that I haven’t made a lot of runs over the last couple of weeks probably hasn’t helped much. But realistically, we as Australian players probably won’t be able to take part in the first couple of years of the event anyway.

— Ricky Ponting Australia’s captain.

If I could tell you why that would probably be quite a good news story, but there is no sort of logical sense to what each player’s worth ... I can’t see a pattern. That’s quiet amazing how that’s unfolded. Unfortunately it’s got nothing to do with me but that just the way things turned out.

— Andrew Symonds, the Australian all-rounder, quite surprised by the staggering $1.35m he attracted at the auction.

The amount of money being bandied around here and the amount of money and power the Indian board, the BCCI, has, who knows how cricket administration worldwide is going to pan out.”

— Ricky Ponting

It was indescribable. I got told and then sat and said ‘Are you taking the mickey out of me?’ They said it was genuine... it’s just remarkable. It’s very flattering. I’m very surprised and I sort of feel a bit embarrassed.

— David Hussey, Australian player.

When you’re playing for England and you walk out on the field with the Three Lions on your shirt there is nothing bigger. We have so much cricket for England that we can’t go off and play there too. We are very well looked after and I can’t see why you’d trade in the Three Lions for anything.

Alastair Cook, England’s opening batsman.

The IPL is a pretty interesting thing, a pretty good opportunity and good for cricket fans. The auction is an unusual situation — and I don’t know if it has ever happened in sport — but it has to be good for cricket. Look, we’re going to have different players alongside each other in the same sides, with eight World XIs, it’s an exciting new development. I think Twenty20 is good for the game and it is here to stay. A lot of people want to come to watch and kids are passionate about it.

— Shane Warne, former Australian leg-spinner.

As a cricketer, I felt sad to see such an auction. It just did not seem right. Our top stars and legends being put under the hammer. It might have been a big tamasha (show), but it did not seem right.

— Kapil Dev , India’s World Cup-winning captain.

It is good that a lot of money is coming in. Now players will take up cricket as a viable career option, but it is too early to predict the impact of IPL on Indian cricket.

— Aunshuman Gaekwad, former India player and coach.