(AFP Photo)
Chris Gayle has proposed a solution to address potential conflicts between franchise tournaments like the IPL and international cricket schedules. He suggested creating a dedicated window exclusively for tournaments like the IPL, ensuring there is no overlap or interference with international commitments.
Gayle highlighted the issue where overseas players often have to withdraw from the IPL, either midway through the season or just before crucial stages, due to international duty. For instance, during IPL 2024, several England cricketers had to leave the tournament before the playoffs to join their national team for a bilateral T20I series against Pakistan.
He expressed concern over the unfairness of cricketers being forced to choose between staying in the IPL or fulfilling international obligations, describing the situation as overly skewed towards one side.
“When the IPL is going on, you see players who have to leave the tournament to go play for their countries,” Gayle told DafaNews. “If you have an IPL window [then] it should just be the IPL in that window. You shouldn’t have international cricket during that time frame, because there’s only one team that’s going to benefit, and its India. That’s unfair. You cannot have a system like that.”
“If it’s a World Cup window, then it’s just that, nothing else. Same for the IPL. If you want the best players in the world to be playing in the IPL, the biggest franchise in history, then you have to allow them to play in that particular window without interference like international cricket. You cannot pull players out of such a big franchise tournament, because it’s unfair and too one-sided,” he added.
When asked about the possibility of players banding together to present their collective demands, Gayle responded, “No one can speak to India. India runs cricket, you know? It’s a fact. Who is going to talk to India? Who is going to challenge India? No one. They control cricket.”
Gayle believed that placing players in a predicament where they must choose between representing their country and their franchise could ultimately harm international cricket.
“It’s not like the players are going to form a union. We already have a players’ association. What can it do? It could be call by the players, at some stage, to say ‘Hey, listen to me, I’m going to choose the IPL over international cricket’. We’ve seen cricketers retire from international cricket to play franchise cricket and you’re going to get more and more such cases and international cricket will on the losing side,” Gayle said.
