IPL franchises lure English players into quitting international duty

Owners of top IPL franchises are making desperate attempts to convince as many as six premier England players to quit international cricket and take up handsome annual contracts ranging up to 5 million pounds in order to play T20 leagues round the year the Times London reportedIt is widely known that almost all the ten IPL franchises have branched out in various leagues including CPL West Indies SA T20 South Africa Global T20 League UAE and the upcoming Major League T20 in the US However the report doesnt state the names of the franchises and who are the players involved in the discussion There will also be an ambitious Saudi T20 league which some of the IPL franchises might be investing inThe Times report quotes Initial discussions have taken place after at least six English players including some international stars were approached by IPL franchise owners and asked whether in principle they would accept a deal that would make an Indian team their main employer rather than the ECB or an English county This development follows discussions among players unions around the world about the potential implications of 12month franchise contracts which would be a significant step towards the football model of elite players being primarily contracted to their team and released for international duty rather than the other way aroundOne source told The Times that contract offers could come as soon as the end of the yearAlso Read IPL 2023 Can Russellpower come to KKRs rescueThere is no doubt that T20 cricket is here to stay and T10 is also fast catching the imagination of the publicWhile ICC has always thought about putting a cap on the number of leagues that an active contracted player can take part in a year one cant rule out a possibility of a lot of young players either retiring from international cricket or giving up on central contracts to become free agents The only hurdle in such a scenario could be NOC from the respective countrys cricket boardThe probability of such a model being adopted has grown increasingly likely in recent years as some IPL franchise owners have bought stakes in several T20 tournaments in the UAE South Africa Caribbean and now the United States with the new Major League Cricket venture which begins in July the newspaper was quoted as sayingThe daily also claimed that a discussion on similar lines took place with star Australian T20 specialists alsoDiscussions have already taken place with a number of highprofile Australian players about fulltime deals but this has now been extended to English players Contracts could be worth upwards of GBP 2 million a year and even as high as GBP 5 million iquest more than five times the value of the highest England central contractsIt also spoke about the possibility of having partial contracts both with ECB or county and the IPL franchise especially the ones who play whiteball cricketReduced IPL deals covering at least three of the rounds would also be on offer It is unlikely that any of Englands Test stars will walk away from their central contracts in favour of a franchise contract but the sheer amount of money on offer makes that a risk in the futureWhat is more likely is that players will arrange bespoke deals depending on their own circumstances which could result in them being partcontracted to their county or the ECB and partcontracted to a franchiseWith PTI inputs