'Players are paraded like cattle in IPL'

The New Zealand Cricket Players Association (NZCPA) has said that the Indian Premier League (IPL) player auction is deeply humiliating for players.

"I think the whole system is archaic and deeply humiliating for players, who are paraded like cattle for all the world to see," ESPNcricinfo quoted Heath Mills, chief executive of NZCPA as saying.

Mills reflected that players act as mere commodities for IPL franchises as the formers' destiny is in the hands of the latter.

"The players enter the auction not knowing where they are going, who their team-mates are going be, who's managing them, who the owners are -- no other sports league in the world engages players on that basis," Mills said.

Peter Clinton, a former chief executive of Wellington Cricket had earlier also called the IPL player auction "ridiculous".

He tweeted, "The IPL Auction is such an undignified, cruel & unnecessary employment practice. Ridiculous that it exists today, belongs in the medieval ages."

In the recently concluded two-day player auction up to 578 players, out of the 1,122 players, went under hammer.

The franchises had Rupees 80 crore to buy and retain players and the IPL made it mandatory that teams had to spend a minimum 75% of their purse.