It is the perfect modern morality tale for India's super-rich. The lesson: money cannot buy the important things in life — such as cricketing victories.

For the past month the sub-continent has been transfixed by the Indian Premier League, a new competition that has transformed cricket by injecting it with a huge amount of money. Before a ball was bowled the auction of eight team franchises and television rights raised $1.7billion (£850million) and several players had secured £80,000-a-week contracts.

IMG, the agency responsible for the tournament's business dealings, said that more than 200 variations were tested before the “optimum commercial and investment model” was formulated. Since then, an unforeseen development has raised doubts over how well cricket and cash fit together: the cheapest sides have won. Fed up with defeat, one billionaire who invested a huge sum in a losing side has taken to sledging his team.

Vijay Mallya, the flamboyant liquor baron behind Kingfisher beer, bid $111.6million for the Bangalore franchise. The second-most-expensive side in the league repaid his investment by becoming the first to be knocked out. Mr Mallya vented his frustration by criticising one of India's cricket legends. He said that he was unhappy with the team assembled by Rahul Dravid, the former national captain, whom Mr Mallya is paying $1million.

“I had my own list [of players] but Rahul Dravid and Charu Sharma [the team manager, who has been sacked] had their own list and at the end of the day, I decided to take the back seat,” Mr Mallya said. “I was very tempted to bid for players whom I wanted but they held me back.”

Losses on the field will translate into financial ones, experts suggest. Jitendra Singh, the Dean of Nanyang Business School in Singapore, said: “I am reminded of something well understood about auctions: the winner's curse. The winners end up bidding such large sums, they end up losing in the longer term.”

Some Indian politicians may be less than vexed by Bangalore's poor show. Manmohan Singh, the Prime Minister, has railed against rich Indians who flaunt their wealth in a poverty-racked country. When Mr Singh criticised the “ostentatious expenditure” of the subcontinent's super-rich last year, many looked towards Mr Mallya, whose trophy assets also include a 311ft yacht once owned by Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor; a South African game lodge; several sports cars; a stud farm; a Scottish whisky distillery and India's first Formula One racing team.

The “auction winners' curse” may also have hit the most expensive IPL side, Mumbai Indians, who have underperformed. It was bought by Mukesh Ambani, India's richest man, who bid $111.9million for a team that has languished near the foot of the table.

The underdogs, meanwhile, are having their day. The Rajasthan Royals, the cheapest franchise in the competition by far — a snip at $67 million — were the least fancied. It was even fined by the organisers for not meeting the minimum threshold in the players' auction after it spent less than $3.3million. Led by Shane Warne, the Australian spinner, they were the first to secure a berth in the semi-finals.

The Mohali team, at $76million one of the three cheapest sides, stand second in the league, to the delight of Preity Zinta, the Bollywood actress who co-owns them.

For other high-flying owners, the IPL has been a crash course in learning how to lose - something that has come more naturally to some than others. Shah Rukh Khan, India's most bankable film star, owns the Calcutta side, which suffered a galling series of defeats. The poor run has damaged his relationship with Sourav Ganguly, the Calcutta captain, a cricketer affectionately known across India as Dada — “elder brother” in Bengali — although while at Lancashire his nickname was the less flattering Lord Snooty.

Expensive mistakes

— Harry Kewell, the Australia forward, was bought by Liverpool from Leeds United for £5 million in 2003 but was released this year after five injury-plagued seasons in which he made only 139 appearances: costing the club roughly £160,000 a game

— Juan Sebastián Verón was a star in his native Argentina and when playing for Lazio in Italy but his form dipped significantly after being bought by Manchester United for £28.1 million in 2001. Chelsea paid £15 million for him in 2003. He played only 14 times before being sold back to Italy

— Jacques Kallis, the South Africa all-rounder, was bought for £460,000 by the Bangalore franchise in the Indian Premier League but has scored only one fifty and taken four wickets in ten matches

— In 2007 Barry Zito was bought on a £65 million seven-year contract by the San Francisco Giants baseball team He became only the third pitcher in the past 50 years to lose his first six games of the season, and the Giants dropped him this month

— Jeff Garcia, a quarterback with the San Francisco 49ers, played in three Pro Bowl finals before being bought on a four-year contract in 2004 by the Cleveland Browns for £13 million. He played only ten games, losing seven, before being released

Source: Times archives

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