Should Cricketers Focus On Franchise Events Rather Than International Series
Franchise cricket like IPL has become quite popular worldwide. This can be understood from the fact that the New Zealand cricketing board did not stop its players from participating in the IPL even though the last few matches of the tournament were clashing with the test series with the England cricket team.
Ace cricketer and the director of cricket at Rajasthan Royals, Kumara Sangakkara is however against this decision. He said that understands the decision when players opt out of the IPL due to the upcoming international series; all contracts are always below the international game. This is why the IPL is structured in such a way that each player has to get NOC from their respective boards before participating in this franchise game. But it is the players who have to go through the dilemma and decide between the two-game formats, this should never be the case. He added that he wants ICC and the member nations to strike a balance so that players can play both formats and get benefits from the games, without compromising one for the other.
There is however an ongoing debate about what the ideal balance actually implies. Should there be a window for the IPL in international cricket? The answer to this is yet to be found and thus, cricketing boards of different countries along with IPL are trying to find a solution for this.
Young cricketers attract quickly to franchise t20 leagues and West Indies’ legendary opener Desmond Haynes thinks that players must focus on their skill to improve their game and forget about money as when you perform well on ground, financially you get stronger.
“From my experience, everybody wants to play where there’s big money. At the end of the day, everybody’s wanting to improve their standard of living. But I always say to them, it is good to realise that you’ve got aspirations to get into the big leagues, but it’s also a very important for you to work on becoming a good cricketer. If you do that, the financial side will look after itself,” Desmond Haynes said during an interview to Betway Insider.
It really matters what the home board wants to do with the players – they would always want their best international players to be available for the longest time. This leads to confrontation between the players and the home boards about the franchise tournaments like IPL. It can have a negative impact as players who are more focused on playing IPL might retire from international cricket to play the franchise game, and this would degrade the quality of international cricket and make the teams a lot poorer.
The IPL has indeed helped many players to improve their cricketing skills. Due to the shorter format of the games, players have acquired more spontaneity and fitness, which also helped them to improve their overall game in all the formats. The franchise game has specifically benefited the players of countries like New Zealand, India, and England.
The IPL is the best place to improve a player’s shorter version skills, and the same can be transferred and applied to the ODI and test matches. Kumar Sangakkara added that the short version skill improvements among the players are quite visible in the England team. Also, talking about New Zealand, he said that their side has developed a lot since their players started playing in the IPL. Also, the improvement when it comes to the Indian players, is recognizable post the franchise game started. The way this team beat Australia in the final test is the result of the improvements.
Playing the IPL would also prove beneficial for the T20 world cup. The franchise game would act as a practice session for them.