The onset of the second season of the International League T20 (ILT20) is about to take the sheen away from the knockout stages of the Big Bash League (BBL) season 13. As many as seven players who featured during the league stage of BBL13 are set to miss the knockouts of their respective sides as they are set to join their respective franchises in the ILT20 starting Friday, January 19.
Adelaide Strikers will head into their Knockout game against Perth Scorchers on Saturday, January 20, with a depleted side. They are going to lose Jamie Overton, who is the joint-leading wicket-taker of the season, the firepower of Chris Lynn and Adam Hose.
On the other hand, the arrival of ILT20 has deprived Brisbane Heat of their reliable skipper Colin Munro and overseas signing Sam Billings ahead of their Qualifier clash with Sydney Sixers.
The news for Sixers isn't very encouraging either as their leading run-getter of the season, James Vince is also set to fly to the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Notably, one of the most brilliant performers for Scorchers in their last league stage fixture, Laurie Evans will also depart due to his ILT20 commitments.
The reason behind the exodus of such a massive scale is monetary. ILT20 pays more than BBL and hence players like Evans who have "a job to do and a family to feed" are left with no other choice but to put money over everything else.
"All the way through my career I've made a name for myself in finals and big games. It's absolutely the worst time to be leaving, but I've got a job to do and a family to feed. It's just the nature of the beast," Evans was quoted as saying by ESPNcricinfo.
"I certainly feel that the BBL could squeeze some more games in. We've had a lot of downtime and I think that way, you'll get the best players coming back over without any clashes, and get the finals done," he added.
Evans feels that the BBL's organising committee can squeeze the schedule a bit more and it might help in avoiding undesired clashes with other leagues around the world going forward.
"It's great that I can go and play as many tournaments as I can in a year. I just think you need to move with the times. You've seen it in England with the Hundred: they want it done inside a month and it's a brutal schedule, but that's the game we're in. The 10 games [per team] is about right, but I definitely think we could shorten the start and end," he mentioned.
