Mustafizur Rahman, Sikandar Raza, Jos Buttler, Phil Salt, Will Jacks, Sam Curran, Jonny Bairstow. No, this isn't a list of top performers in IPL 2024. These are some of the few players who have left the ongoing season ahead of the playoffs and the last couple of games in the league stage. In fact, Mustafizur and Raza left much earlier in the first week of May itself for a bilateral series between Bangladesh and Zimbabwe.
What has hurt the franchises most is the England cricketers leaving in the last week of league stage and also just before the playoffs. This isn't the first time that foreign stars have left the cash-rich league early. But never have so many players left together for national duty especially ahead of the playoffs. Jos Buttler and Phil Salt have been key players for Rajasthan Royals and Kolkata Knight Riders this year at the top of the order and both teams have qualified for the playoffs.
Buttler has scored two centuries this season for the Royals while Salt is the second highest run-scorer with 435 runs to his name at a strike rate of 182. Both KKR and RR will definitely miss such impact players in the playoffs. Moreover, Mustafizur Rahman's early departure has hurt Chennai Super Kings as well as the left-arm pace bowler had picked up 14 wickets in just nine matches played this season. Add to it, Moeen Ali leaving the tournament as well and CSK have exactly four overseas players left now ahead of their must-win clash against Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) on Saturday (May 18).
Such has been the scarcity of the overseas players that Punjab Kings have only two of them left in their squad for their last league stage game with Sam Curran, Jonny Bairstow and Liam Livingstone leaving the camp. What if PBKS had qualified for the playoffs? They would've badly missed these players in their quest for the maiden IPL trophy. Franchises have all the right to feel hard done with having paid hefty amounts to secure some of these players at the auction.
But weren't they aware of England's international schedule? Didn't foreign players or their respective cricket boards inform BCCI prior about the unavailability of the players?
For the unversed, CSK were aware of Mustafizur's availability beforehand so, in this case, they might not even be complaining. But what about the likes of Buttler, Salt, Curran, Bairstow and Moeen Ali among others? This is where BCCI's role becomes very important.
Lack of planning on BCCI's part playing a role in players leaving IPL early?
Let us jog back to December 2023 when the auction took place. Was IPL schedule already released then? No. Let's move to January 2024 and we were still waiting for the schedule to arrive. BCCI only managed to release the schedule, that too for the first couple of weeks, on February 22, exactly a month before the start (March 22) of the season. The board also confirmed then that the tournament will end on May 26. On the contrary, England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) announced the schedule of their 2024-25 home summer on July 4, 2023 confirming that their T20I series against Pakistan will start on May 22, 2024.
One can argue in this case that BCCI waited for Lok Sabha Election dates to be announced and hence, the delay in the schedule. But then, even the schedule for IPL 2023 was released on February 17 when the season was to commence on March 31.
Then what should've BCCI done on its part to avoid scheduling clash with international calendar especially to avoid England players leaving early?
Well, in this case, or every season, BCCI can at least plan early and jot down the tentative start and end dates for the upcoming IPL season. In fact, there has to be clarity about the player availability and the IPL schedule dates even for the franchises before the auction so that they can plan and pick their players accordingly. This will definitely make life easier for the other cricket boards, players and franchises alike in terms of planning.
As for IPL 2024, it was very much clear that England's T20I series against Pakistan was getting underway on May 22. According to that, the board could've planned to end the IPL at least a week in advance, by May 19 to avoid any clash. This would've also helped India's T20 World Cup bound players to rest for a few days before leaving for the USA where their league stage matches are scheduled.
More clarity in terms of IPL's start and end dates would go a long way in resolving the foreign player availability issue.
Now what about the players and their cricket boards? Aren't they accountable?
Franchises, over the years, have been paying a mammoth sum to their overseas stars and least they can expect is full availability, if not match-winning performances. One feels, ECB should've cleared even before the auction that their players wouldn't be available for IPL if it clashes with their home summer. In fact, their departure date should also be finalised beforehand to give an idea to the franchises before they bid on a particular player. But what happened this time is that the English board called back the T20 World Cup bound players only after they announced the squad late last month.
On their part, Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) had made it clear that the players picked in IPL would return for the Zimbabwe T20Is while New Zealand cricket board always allows its players to feature in the IPL for the entire season. For a few years now, their second string squad plays any international cricket that is scheduled in the IPL window.
Such clarity is always appreciated as it makes things clear for the players and franchises both.
This time around though the players are copping criticism for not being fully available. Former India all-rounder Irfan Pathan even stated that the overseas stars should either play full season or not feature at all. On the other hand, Sunil Gavaskar suggested the BCCI to slash player salaries and not give commission for the cricket boards which they get for letting their player feature in IPL.
To cut things short, better planning from BCCI and proper communication from cricket boards would definitely make life easier going forward for IPL teams and players! But will it happen? That's a BIG Question!!!
