'IPL auction humiliating for players'

NZCPA chief executive says players 'paraded like cattle' by teams

Chief Executive of the New Zealand Cricket Players Association (NZCPA) Heath Mills has criticised the auction system used by the Indian Premier League (IPL) to buy players for their teams.

“I think the whole system is archaic and deeply humiliating for the players, who are paraded like cattle for the world to see," Mills was quoted by New Zealand Herald.

He then highlighted the good that the tournament has brought, but suggested that it follows other professional leagues in order to engage the players in a better way.

"There are a lot of good things about the IPL and it's been great for cricket, but I'd like to see it mirror the rest of professional sport in the way they engage athletes," he added. "Some players do exceptionally well out of if but the vast majority would like to see the system changed. They would like to negotiate with coaches and owners behind closed doors."

Mills was endorsing a tweet from Peter Clinton, a former chief executive of Wellington Cricket, who said: "The IPL Auction is such an undignified, cruel and unnecessary employment practice. Ridiculous that it exists today, belongs in the medieval ages."