It is the sort of thing which can only happen in the rarefied world of the IPL.
A team puts up their entire staff for 80 days in one of the most exclusive hotels in a city full of exclusive hotels, partitioning off a whole chunk of the place for its own use.
They get ready to charter a private jet for five of their late-arrivals from the UK.
They go over and above the standard Covid-19 safety procedures, and invest in extra antibody testing for all of their workforce, too.
And, still they are considered the thrifty ones.
Such are the lavish budgets in cricket’s most cash rich competition, Rajasthan Royals manage to retain the tag of the IPL’s “Moneyball” franchise.
In a competition in which the only constant is change, its inaugural winners are still thought about in much the same way as they were back when the whole thing started in 2008. Meaning, savvy when it comes to spending with their rupees.
The Jaipur-based team were the cheapest of the original eight franchises when the league was created, and they stormed to the first title largely on the back of the charisma of their captain.
Ranjit Barthakur, who has been with the franchise since its inception and is now its chairman, understands where their depiction comes from.
“Earlier, the Moneyball idea came about because we were bought at a very small price, and we won the tournament with Shane Warne there,” Barthakur said.
“Because of that, it stuck. But I don’t think that is true if you go by the figures right now.”
He thinks the initial image of his team is dated now. He points to the fact that hiring players of the standing of Ben Stokes and Jofra Archer in a system like the IPL auction does not come cheap.
He does say, though, they remain committed to “buying competency at a price that is affordable to us”.
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Greatest IPL XI
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1) Shane Watson (Rajasthan Royals, Chennai Super Kings, Royal Challengers Bangalore) 3,573 runs, strike rate 139.53. Stiff competition from the likes of David Warner and Chris Gayle for an opening berth in this line up. But Watson has been player of the series twice, as well as being man of the match in the final two years ago. AFP -
2) Rohit Sharma (Deccan Chargers, Mumbai Indians) 4,898 runs, strike rate 130.82. Five titles. The third most runs in tournament history. IPL players don’t come any more decorated than Mumbai’s captain. AFP -
3) Virat Kohli (Royal Challengers Bangalore) 5,412 runs, strike rate 131.61. Amazing to think an IPL title is still missing from his CV. He is one of only two Indians to have been named player of the series. The other was Sachin Tendulkar in 2010. AFP -
4) Suresh Raina (Chennai Super Kings, Gujarat Lions) 5,368 runs, strike rate 137.11. Conspicuous by his absence in the UAE this year, Raina has missed just one match out of all those played by the IPL’s most consistent side. AFP -
5) Andre Russell (Kolkata Knight Riders), 1,400 runs, strike rate 186.41; 55 wickets, economy rate 8.88. His belligerence reached new levels last year, as he scored 510 runs at an average of 57, and at a rate of more than two per delivery. Bowls a bit, too. AFP -
6) MS Dhoni (Chennai Super Kings, Rising Pune Supergiant) 4,432 runs, strike rate 137.85. Supporters should cherish the time they have left to watch Captain Cool, given he has just ended his international career. Central to CSK’s success down the years. Ravindranath K / The National -
7) Sunil Narine (Kolkata Knight Riders) 122 wickets, economy rate 6.67; 778 runs, strike rate 168.34. One-team-men are rare in the IPL. As with Andre Russell and Lasith Malinga, there is a reason Narine has been so highly treasured by KKR. A two time player of the series. AFP -
8) Ravichandran Ashwin (Chennai Super Kings, Kings XI Punjab, Rising Pune Supergiant) 125 wickets, economy rate 6.79. Just gets in ahead of Harbhajan Singh and Amit Mishra on account of superior economy. Plus watching the fall-outs from his Mankads is good fun, too. Reuters -
9) Bhuvneshwar Kumar (Pune Warriors, Sunrisers Hyderabad) 133 wickets, economy rate 7.24. No other Indian pace bowler gets close to his career haul of wickets, and an economy rate of 7.24 is better even than Jasprit Bumrah. Courtesy Sunrisers Hyderabad Twitter / @SunRisers -
10) Lasith Malinga (Mumbai Indians) 170 wicket, economy rate 7.14. The Sri Lankan great would get in due to his sheer weight of wickets, which is way more than anyone else. But to have such miserly economy after all this time is extraordinary, too. Getty Images -
11) Jasprit Bumrah (Mumbai Indians) 82 wickets, economy rate 7.55. The bare figures don’t actually do Bumrah too much justice. But his bowling under pressure – evidenced the way Mumbai closed out last year’s final – is unparalleled. AP Photo -
12th man) Ravindra Jadeja (Chennai Super Kings, Gujarat Lions, Kochi Tuskers Kerala, Rajasthan Royals). Because if you need a 12th man, you might as well have the best fielder going around. AP Photo
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“There is a lot of rigour in what we do to select a team,” Barthakur said.
“We find unknown people. We go to the backwaters of India and find people who were never known before, and we take a risk by giving people a chance.
“When Jos Buttler wasn’t playing well, we took a risk by putting him into the team from Mumbai. [At Mumbai] he didn’t play at all. He was not playing well.
"And in the case of Stokes, there were some disasters for him in the UK, but we said: ‘Cricket is cricket, he is a talented guy.’
“Similarly, Jofra’s first international cricket was with us, before he joined the English team back home.
“We think, in all those cases, it is smart buying. I think we are a smart team.”
If there is an equivalent at the Royals of the Jonah Hill character in the movie based on Michael Lewis’s seminal book, Moneyball, it is Jake Lush McCrum.
Now 27, he is the chief operating officer, having initially been detailed to help with the relaunch of the franchise after its two-year suspension of the league aged just 24.
His background in cricket extends not much further than going to matches at Lord’s with his granddad when he was young, and adding his name to the waiting list to be an MCC member when he was 16.
Which he regards as a positive when it comes to doing his job.
“I absolutely love the sport, but the benefit is that I’m not so much of a cricket badger that I think I know more than anyone else, or the tactics,” Lush McCrum said.
“I know that, when it comes to the auction, it is my job to get the best out of our director of cricket Zubin Bharucha and our head coach Andrew McDonald.
“It is about getting their views and making the best decision based on those, rather than input my own views, because that would never be relevant.”
Lush McCrum had planned to go into venture capital investment when he finished studying economics at university.
He joined a fintech company owned by Manoj Badale, who is also the Rajasthan Royals owner, and advised on mergers and acquisitions. He was soon marked out as a star, and redirected to help out their cricket business.
Although the Royals have not won the title again since its first year, Lush McCrum believes they are still at the forefront of finding undervalued players – even though the world is catching up on their ideas.
“It is something we have historically been leaders in,” Lush McCrum said, saying they are moving towards “machine learning” to get “non-biased views” on players.
“Across the first 10 years of the IPL, we were known as the Moneyball team.
"Our run-per-dollar spend is the highest, and wins per dollar spend is the highest. So basically we were outperforming how much we were spending.
“Teams have certainly caught up. Now it’s our job to continue innovating each year to find new ways.
“Whether that is looking at different metrics – so judging how many balls per six, how many balls per dot, this sort of thing – those are things people are looking at now, but five years ago, people didn’t look at those for judgments.
“If you are looking at specific player roles, when you are looking at balls per six, if someone has a small number of balls per six, and that is your closing role, it would be extremely beneficial.
“Someone might have a 150 strike-rate, but they might require 25 balls to get there.”
He points out that it is an inexact science because prices can escalate at auction if a number of teams are fixed on the same player.
“[But] by doing this, it gives you the advantage that you will get the players who are above average for a lower price than others might,” he said.
“There are always going to be anomalies in the auction structure. That is why the IPL is so competitive, because the teams change and churn through.
“As much as that is a challenge for the brand side, it is fantastic for the cricket competition side.”
