IPL – A hazard for international cricket – Part One
Indian Premier League (IPL) has become an integral part of international cricket since last four years. The idea of IPL has surely helped Indian cricket in more ways than one as it is bringing in huge amount of revenue and sponsorship.
Other than the marketing point of view, Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is able to give exposure to its younger talent and making them used to play in front of cameras and huge crowds. IPL has surely played a big part in making India the best
team in both Test cricket and One Day Internationals.
However, IPL has helped international cricket or not remains a big question and majority of the cricket analysts outside India feel that the rich league is damaging the sport on a bigger horizon.
Current players are naturally in favour of IPL because of all the money involved and they have even demanded the International Cricket Council (ICC) to adjust the league in its international schedule.
It is quite ironic that the same players were complaining about the hectic schedule of international cricket in past but they are not finding IPL as an additional burden on themselves in between their international duties. Some of the players even prefer
to play for their franchise in IPL instead of representing their country. The recent example is of West Indian cricketers like http://www.senore.com/Cricket/DJ-Bravo-c1379; although they have had problems with their cricket officials back home.
Former England captain and all-rounder Tony Greg said recently that http://www.senore.com/Cricket/India-c750 is dominating the cricket world at the moment because of the revenue ICC generates from there. He also blamed some of the smaller cricket boards for being influenced by India.
Greg went on to say that that it is extremely damaging for the international sport that players like Gayle and Pollard have preferred to play IPL rather than playing for the West Indies.
He said, “We have a situation at the moment where the ICC is dominated by India. They tell http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Bangladesh-c747 and one or two other countries what to do and they always get the vote. It's very hard, but somehow we have got to change things at that level.
It is laughable that Gayle and Pollard are playing in the IPL when the http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755 - that is just ridiculous.”
Former http://www.senore.com/Cricket/ICC-World-Cup-2011-c100625 at any
cost.
“To give the IPL an open window, and reduce by two months the time available for cricketers to play around the world, is just ridiculous. We have got to look very, very closely and make sure we do not destroy the cornerstone of the game which is Test cricket,”
Greig added.
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