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VVS Laxman - giving up icon status - whats the reason he gave this up?


fineleg

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Jamie Pandaram reveals the deal behind the deal that made Andrew Symonds Australian cricket's million-dollar man. Whispers and glances were thrown around the air-conditioned conference room in Mumbai's Hilton Towers, then silence descended. "Next up is Andrew Symonds," said auctioneer Richard Madley, "with a base price of $US250,000." Within moments, that base price had tripled and franchises couldn't wait for rivals to finish raising their hands before putting in higher bids. Madley was working overtime: "$1 million, do I have $1.25? $1.25 here, do I have $1.3 million? Yes, $1.3 million [$A1.47m]." Hyderabad's offer was simply too much. Some franchises weren't prepared to spend that much on one player; others were not prepared to see how far Hyderabad would go to get Symonds. "Sold to Hyderabad for $1.3 million." Madley's hammer sounded the dawn of a new era for Australia's professional cricketers. And Symonds - who signed his first professional contract wearing footy shorts, thongs and a cowboy hat - is now Twenty20 royalty and the richest non-Indian in this format of the game. But in the ensuing days of head-shaking and figure-quoting, what few have realised is that Symonds's enormous pay-day was largely made possible by one man: VVS Laxman. The Indian Test batsman, who will captain Symonds, gave up his "icon" status so Hyderabad could spend more money on talent. Under the stipulations, icon players (hometown heroes) were to receive 15 per cent more than their highest-earning teammates, a deal capitalised on by Rahul Dravid, Virender Sehwag, Sourav Ganguly, Sachin Tendulkar and Yuvraj Singh to earn million-dollar contracts. But Laxman declined and he received only $US375,000, a figure which allowed Hyderabad to spend big on Adam Gilchrist, RP Singh, Rohit Sharma and Shahid Afridi. If Hyderabad had to pay Laxman 15 per cent more than Symonds and remain under the $US5 million cap, they would not have been able to sign two of the other players. Symonds and Gilchrist in particular were chosen because Hyderabad felt its young squad members would benefit from exposure to the game's champions. Now Symonds will make most of his money in a country where some middle-class fans are openly racist towards him, but where some of India's richest men want to make him a sporting god. N. Krishnan is chief financial officer of the Deccan Chronicle, the newspaper company which purchased Hyderabad for $116.7 million. The decision to make Symonds the second-highest paid IPL player was based on on-field strength, said Krishnan, and he is certain Indians are ready to embrace the Australian despite his racism row with Harbhajan Singh during the Sydney Test. "We believe that things can happen on the field in the heat of cricket, and that it is now forgotten," Krishnan said. "I don't think any of the players carry it with them. We didn't really look at it like that. I am sure he will learn from it. Bygones are bygones. "This is a long-term commitment. Once the cricket succeeds everything else will follow; the branding, everything will come. If my team is losing, marketing will be difficult." But marketing is part and parcel of the deal. Players will be expected to feature heavily in advertising campaigns and Symonds could soon be asked to write a column for the Deccan Chronicle - "anything is possible", Krishnan said. The anomaly of pricing put on players - with fringe players such as Cameron White and David Hussey earning more than Ricky Ponting - should have a flow-on effect in Australia. Todd Deacon, general manager of the Sweeney Sports marketing firm, said television ratings for the IPL in Australia would determine whether local companies follow India's lead. "There is still the issue of not necessarily representing your country - so you might be big in India but not the elite of the elite in Australian cricket, and that would still have an impact," he said.
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“Laxman has been named as captain of the Hyderabad team. He gave away the icon status (which the franchisee owners had demanded from the IPL governing council) as he wanted Hyderabad to have a larger budget (for buying players). “He showed fine sportsman’s spirit,” said P.K. Iyer, managing director of Deccan Chronicle, after buying the veteran cricketer for $375,000. The IPL has conferred icon status on Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid and Yuvraj Singh to rule them out of the auctioning process and then added Virender Sehwag to that list when Delhi franchisees GMR demanded it.

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With all respect to Laxman...I think it is a silly move. IPL is about making money.Every Tom Dick and Harry involved in it is there for the money so this sacrifice is really quite unnecessary.It is not like you are playing for your nation.You are playing for some guy who is going to wring you for every bit he can get....let him pay the price for it. The owner was on Tv and said that they were asked why they didn't make laxman an icon player like delhi had done with sehwag....and his answer was that it was their strategy which he couldn't reveal....... It is quite possible that they came up with this story to save their ass from local public criticism. It is also possible that the business men managed to sell the "sacrifice for state" story to him and laughed all the way to the bank. They got what they wanted without getting the blame for not "honouring the state hero". Any which way I think it is a foolhardy decision. Now I have to hide before Rohan comes online.....:nervous:

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it may be foolish looking at it from his personal angle, but thats the special guy that Laxman is. None of the super rich Sehwag, Yuvraj, or super-super rich Dravid, or super-super-super-super rich Tendulkar would even volunteer a 10% or 15% reduction in payment of the "icon" status income so their teamz can get some other good playerz easily. But Laxman is like this - :hail:

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VVS Laxman is the most simple, humble, and the most gentlemen like cricketer you will ever meet. His actions make him the man he is today. Im glad he rejected the icon status and im glad that people know about it. He is one thise cricketersr who is not greedy about money like all the other icon players.

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Playing for IPL is like working for contract work. No loyalty for country or state involved. Why should the Mallayas and Ambanis get to use the image(and in turn make money) and the reputations of these players to sell their brand for any less. Do you tell your employer ...Please reduce my pay packet so that you can employ some more good people. Why should the icons be expected to do that then? They were bought at that price because that is their brand worth.The business men are going to milk their name for the price they have given them.If the business house want to dole out more money to get more players ,let them ask BCCI to increase the 20 crore limit.

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Playing for IPL is like working for contract work. No loyalty for country or state involved. Why should the icons be expected to do that then?
They are *not* expected to give up any of the money. Nothing wrong if they dont give up the money. But inspite of not being expected to do so, Laxman has done so. That (voluntary act) is what makes it so special, that he is willing to sacrifice it.
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I am sorry but I feel selling himself short is quite silly unless he didn't consider himself worth more. If I had a friend like that..I would kick her on the backside and tell her to respect/value herself more. I can take that sacrificing logic if we were talking about national team or even a state team. Imagine Dravid sacrificing his money so that Vijay Mallaya can make some more Daaru or get some more girls to go almost topless for his famed calendars .That would be worth a cause...no???

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VVS Laxman is the most simple' date=' humble, and the most gentlemen like cricketer you will ever meet. His actions make him the man he is today. Im glad he rejected the icon status and im glad that people know about it. He is one thise cricketersr who is not greedy about money like all the other icon players.[/quote'] It is true that VVS is extremely nice. I have met the man once and he was def the nicest of the Indian players. However, I think its unfair to brand the icon players selfish for not giving up their salary. At the end of the day, it is money they earned by playing good cricket and managing their public image very well. Well done to VVS for making the sacrifice, but others who don't shouldn't be branded selfish.
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