No international cricket during the IPL, otherwise only India benefits: Chris Gayle

Two-time T20 World Cup winner and the all-time leading run-getter in T20 cricket Chris Gayle believes that no international cricket should clash with the sport’s biggest franchise league, the IPL, and that the share of cricket’s revenue needs to be divided more equally otherwise the number of cricketers quitting international cricket to play more leagues will increase rapidly. 

Speaking during an exclusive podcast with DafaNews, the two-time T20 World Cup winner cited how centrally contracted Indian cricketers do not have play in other leagues outside the IPL and thus the BCCI and its stakeholders end up controlling the market which in turn sees India series get top billing from a financial perspective. 

“When the IPL is going on, you see players who have to leave the tournament to go play for their countries. If you have an IPL window [then] it should just be the IPL in that window,” said the 44-year-old, who won the T20 World Cup in 2012 and 2016.

“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.” 

That, believes Gayle, is not good for cricket given how frequently international cricketers are forced to choose club ahead of country. 

“They [the BCCI] stay within their own zone and build their own territory and own cricket and own players. I’d love to see it expand more, instead of being stuck in one place which is India. I think it is truly unfair,” said Gayle. 

 “Looking at the bigger picture and the bigger market, give the players what they should get. Step it up. International cricket-wise, the lower-ranked teams aren’t getting the kind of money that India and England are getting. It’s only fair that those lower-ranked teams get played more as well, since they’re playing the same international cricket but just less games. From the ICC’s point of view, maybe they’re not bring a lot of revenue or marketing product, but you still have to pay them. They have families to feed as well. Whether the higher-ranked team beats the lower ones doesn’t matter; you have to step up the gear, money wise, and look after the players. 

“It’s a business. It’s all about the paper [money]. There’s no loyalty in the game anymore. You can’t stop a player from choosing a franchise over his country and you cannot fault a player for that. At the end of the day, it’s their livelihood and their job. We will always hold out country to our heart, for sure, but in cricket anything can happen. You can have a short career. So those lower-ranked teams need to be paid more.”

As vocal of players’ right as Gayle is, he knows that cricketers won’t be able to challenge the IPL or the BCCI given Indian cricket’s stature but he foresees more cricketers retiring to take up more franchise opportunities which will leave international cricket “on the losing side”. 

“No one can speak to India,” he says with a hearty chuckle. “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. 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.”