SEEING the likes of Dale Steyn, AB de Villiers and David Hussey being left out of the Playing XI in this season’s IPL, makes you feel that there is something wrong with the rules.
In football, if the EPL, Spanish League etc have no upper limit to the number of foreign players that you can put on the field, I believe it’s only natural for a global league like the IPL to permit more foreign players as well.
Yes, it’s a double-edged thing. If you put too many foreigners in the Playing XI, how do you nurture local talent? But if you limit the number of foreign players, do you really qualify to be called a global league? Now, that’s one more thing for Mr Lalit Modi to chew on.
Right now, every franchisee can have a contract with a maximum of ten foreign players (now that’s a bit too much) at any given time but can only play four out of these in any IPL game. I feel this number should be reduced. Have a contract with about six and then play four. That seems to be OK. This way every franchisee will have to do its homework on every foreign player in minute detail. They will have to check on the players availability, will have to gamble on their being injured and we will see less quality players being left out of the Playing XI.
Being permitted to contract upto ten foreign players, franchisees seem to go in for a signing spree and take foreign players on board without going too much into the merits of each case.
So, rather than going for five players (instead of four at present) in the Playing XI, it might be a better idea to limit the number of foreign contracts from ten to six and then continue to play four. This way the local talent will also not be neglected and too many quality foreign players will also not clutter up the dug-out.
Another facet that has been added to the IPL this time is the after-match bash (or the after-match parties as they are referred to). Of course, there are special tickets to these parties but in places like Mohali (for instance) these after-match parties have become more important and sought-after than the matches themselves.
Most of the young (and NRI) crowd are just waiting for the match to get over so much so, that the match ceases to be important at all. The King’s XI can win or lose (well, we know that mostly they can lose), all these rich kids want is to be at that party. The match gets over by 12, the party goes on till five in the morning. The main issue (the match) becomes the side-issue. The side-issue (the party) becomes the main issue. As for the players – how can you lose eight out of ten matches played so far and still continue to party, is more than I can understand. A much better idea will be to go to bed and hit the nets early next morning. Anyways, as long as the money keeps coming in from these parties, who cares about winning or losing.
Some senior Indian players are also having a great IPL. Kumble is still niggardly with his figures, Sachin is batting so well… and Dada…Sourav Ganguly is leading by example.
Recently, all the TV channels went into overdrive trying to up the ante for Sachin’s inclusion in the T20 World Cup squad. Sachin is batting beautifully in IPL, he should be included in the World Cup squad – most channels shouted. Sachin had to make a statement saying he was happy playing in the IPL and had no plans of going for the World Cup.
The point is can these channels only see Sachin performing well in the IPL? Sourav Ganguly is amongst the top five run-getters in the IPL this season. His captaincy has been inspiring. He is fielding like a tiger (his running-out Gambhir and the catch of Jadhav on Wednesday evening were both top class). He was man-of-the-match in that game. He can bowl a bit. He is almost as old as Sachin. So, why are the channels not clamouring for Ganguly’s inclusion in the T20 World Cup side?
Everything and every player has a time. And time must come when he has to step aside and let youngsters take over. Sachin has made it clear that he wants to play the IPL but not the T20 World Cup. But it’s the channels who mindlessly keep insisting that he should be included in the World Cup team as well.
It might be a better idea for these channels to find out why youngsters like Namam Ojha, Robin Uthappa and Amit Mishra have not been included in the World Cup team (and how someone like Piyush Chawla has been selected). Rather than keep harping on Sachin’s inclusion in the World Cup side.
