'I had 37 missed calls and 300 messages'

While stories of life-changing paydays for talented athletes are relatively common overseas, the reality of a successful Indian Premier League auction isn’t something cricketers have quite gotten their heads around. 

At least that’s the impression given by T20 star Chris Lynn in a recent interview detailing an IPL bidding war experience, as well as an account from young Mumbai Indians recruit Mayank Markande.

Following a sleepless night in anticipation of auction day, the 20-year-old Indian leg-spinner was in the middle of an Under-23 game for Punjab when Mumbai snapped him up for 20 lakh (about A$40,000).

Anti-corruption measures prevent top-flight cricketers from accessing their phone during matches, and Markande was greeted with a flood of notifications when he finally looked at his device after play.

"On match days, you are not allowed to use your phone at the ground. But when I finally switched it on in the evening, I had 37 missed calls and 300 messages," the former India Under-19s spinner told the Mumbai Indians' official website. 

"I rang up a few friends and they told me that the Mumbai Indians had picked me. I didn’t believe them. 

"Then, I received a call from Mr Rahul Sanghvi (Mumbai's team manager). I was finally convinced. And I thanked him wholeheartedly. 

"I had performed well at the Mumbai Indians trials, but I never thought I would be picked at the auction. 

"As a matter of fact, I was mentally prepared to work hard for another couple of years and do well in domestic cricket."

A relative veteran of the IPL scene with four seasons already under his belt, Lynn was no more composed than Markande.

The Australian described following the progress of the auction back in late January as ‘daunting’, particularly given the conflict in timing with Brisbane Heat’s must-win clash against the Melbourne Renegades. 

"I was sitting on the couch and I'd connected the laptop up to the TV, and the auction’s on and I think I was player number 30," Lynn recalled on a Players’ Voice podcast. 

"It’s pretty daunting. You’re seeing blokes going from three hundred thousand to a million bucks in the space of thirty seconds. 

"I knew I was coming up shortly, and I knew I was next to Brendon McCullum in the order, but who’s going to come out first? There’s all these uncontrollable things that are out of your hands. As I was on my way to the ground and I did an interview with Channel 10, and I actually had my phone in my pocket, listening to Baz’s price go up. 

"I was thinking I was next, so I was padding up in the changeroom and listening to it on one of the coach’s phones… then all of a sudden ‘Chris Lynn’ comes out.

"I got a couple of bids… I think it went to $300,000 pretty quickly, stalled for a bit, then up to $700,000 stalled for a bit, and then it went gangbusters. 

“My good mate (Royal Challengers Bangalore and Brisbane Heat coach) Dan Vettori stuck his paddle up a few times. 

"I was nervous, but I didn’t want to try and make that a priority because I had a game to win that night… and then all of a sudden it was $1.86 (million).

"I was already padded up in the nets, [but] I couldn’t really focus on the ball coming down. Obviously it’s life-changing stuff, but for me the priority was winning the game that night, so to try and manage the emotions at the time was quite challenging."

Other Australians have had a tough task keeping their focus while their IPL fate was being determined. 

Lynn’s fellow T20 specialist Andrew Tye found out about his $1.4million IPL windfall after being told by national teammate Adam Zampa while walking from the field following his maiden international five-wicket haul against England in Perth.

Similarly, Big Bash stars D’Arcy Short, Jofra Archer, Rashid Khan, Ben Laughlin and Billy Stanlake were all in the midst of a BBL championship run around as they were due to go under the hammer. 

With the amount of money on offer, the unpredictability and seeming impulsive approach of IPL decision-makers is sure to add to their anxiety, as evidenced by T20 superstar Chris Gayle’s plummet to the third round of bidding for a comparatively bargain-basement price of A$388k. 

But for those lucky enough to be in favour, whether or not the reality sets in doesn’t make their new-found fortune any less real.