Steve Waugh: 'I always worry when too much happens too soon in the life of a promising cricketer

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Ravi Shastri, the former Indian allrounder who is now a member of the Indian Premier League board, has said there is a plan to counsel young cricketers who have been lapped up for huge sums of money in the IPL. More... Cricinfo staff February 24, 2008 Young Indian cricketers like Ishant Sharma will receive financial counselling © Getty Images Ravi Shastri, the former Indian allrounder who is now a member of the Indian Premier League board, has said there is a plan to counsel young cricketers who have been lapped up for huge sums of money in the IPL. Several experts have voiced their concern over junior cricketers like Ishant Sharma being paid so much money but Shastri, who is on the IPL governing council, said there was a plan in place. "These guys will be at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) before the IPL and and we plan to have some kind of a financial counselling for them there," Shastri, the chairman of the NCA, said while commentating for ESPN-Star. "The NCA Director Dav Whatmore is on the same page, and is working on this. Maybe even the parents of these cricketers may be invited for the counseling." The Indian board has instructed junior domestic cricketers to not sign up for the IPL. A number of franchise representatives and senior players have spoken about the possibilities of youngsters getting carried away with so much money so early in their careers. Steve Waugh, the former Australian captain, had voiced his concern too. "I hope some of the young cricketers will be able to keep their head on their shoulders after their value went through the roof," he wrote in his column for Hindustan Times. "I worry for the likes of Ishant Sharma, who went for a surprisingly high bid even though he is not even six months old in international cricket. I might sound like an old-timer but I always worry when too much happens too soon in the life of a young, promising cricketer." Meanwhile Mahendra Singh Dhoni, India's one-day captain who was the most prized player at the IPL auction, said he was firmly concentrating on the CB Series for the moment. "I'm not thinking much about the IPL," Dhoni said at the toss, before the clash against Australia in Sydney. "The IPL is about playing for your franchise. It's a new concept that's been introduced to professionalise domestic cricket in India. It's not about your country or state. As of now I'm concentrating on this series and trying to reach the final."

[Gambit]

Hands off India juniors, IPL team owners warned Hands off India juniors, IPL team owners warned 6 hours ago KUALA LUMPUR (AFP) — Team owners in the lucrative Indian Premier League have been warned against poaching India's junior players before the under-19 World Cup ends, officials said here Sunday. The Indian team at the tournament has been besieged with phone calls from IPL agents since the past week offering contracts to play in the inaugural Twenty20 extravaganza starting on April 18. IPL rules mandate that each of the eight city franchises should have a minimum of four under-21 players in their line-ups and contracts reportedly ranging from 50,000 to 20,000 dollars have been offered to the juniors. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is worried IPL offers could distract the team, one of the favourites to win the under-19 World Cup which ends on March 3. "The players have been told not to have contact with anyone connected with the IPL," team official Hitesh Patel told AFP as India began its quarter-final against England at the Kinrara Oval on Sunday. "The BCCI is very strict about this. IPL team owners have been told to stay away from the team till the World Cup was over." The Cricinfo website quoted a team owner as saying that several franchises were unhappy that agents had begun to poach the juniors and welcomed the BCCI's decision to shield the players. "Too many agents have cropped up and poaching has started," a member of a franchise said. "It's sad that young kids are being exposed to so much money so early. It would have been better had a price been fixed by the IPL board for these players." BCCI secretary Niranjan Shah said a procedure will be worked out with the franchises for signing junior players after the under-19 World Cup ends. Top cricketers from around the world have been signed up for huge amounts to take part in the 44-day, 59-match IPL competition across India. In an unprecedented auction of players in Mumbai last week, bids ranged from a whopping 1.5 million dollars for India's Twenty20 captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni to the lowest of 100,000 dollars for Sri Lankan youngster Chamara Silva. http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5hwHcBu0te044KZ6gKgJb7La9DM4A

[fineleg]

Steve Waugh: 'I always worry when too much happens too soon in the life of a promising cricketer

The Indian board has instructed junior domestic cricketers to not sign up for the IPL. A number of franchise representatives and senior players have spoken about the possibilities of youngsters getting carried away with so much money so early in their careers. Steve Waugh, the former Australian captain, had voiced his concern too. "I hope some of the young cricketers will be able to keep their head on their shoulders after their value went through the roof," he wrote in his column for Hindustan Times. "I worry for the likes of Ishant Sharma, who went for a surprisingly high bid even though he is not even six months old in international cricket. I might sound like an old-timer but I always worry when too much happens too soon in the life of a young, promising cricketer."

Steve Waugh's statement is quite sensible actually.

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BCCI for one-year IPL contract for u-22 and 19 players Mumbai: The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has decided to get proactive following reports that Indian Premier League (IPL) agents were chasing a handful of India under-19 players at the ICC under-19 World Cup in Kuala Lumpur. ... More... Mumbai: The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has decided to get proactive following reports that Indian Premier League (IPL) agents were chasing a handful of India under-19 players at the ICC under-19 World Cup in Kuala Lumpur. Annoyed and upset, the BCCI has decided to offer the under-22 and under-19 players to the franchisees only for one year. The BCCI has also come to know that even coaches of juniors have started to bargain with franchisees and hence it has informed them that they should not consider the under-22 and 19 players directly and also advised them to adhere to the rules to pick players from the catchment area of a particular zone. Moreover the BCCI does not want to be in a situation wherein the franchisees find the basket full without scope for recruiting fresh players for the 2009 competition. Base price The IPL has fixed a base price of $50,000 for the Ranji Trophy players and $20,000 for those who have not played the Ranji Trophy. But since majority of the under-22 and under-19 players have played in the national championship, they would be offered a higher price, but the franchisees will be allowed to offer them only a one-year (season) contract. The one-year rule will not apply to Ranadeb Bose, Cheteshwar Pujara, S. Badrinath, Aakash Chopra and Praveen Kumar, all BCCI contracted players, but not placed at the auction. It’s up to the franchisees to consider them and determine the type of contract they would like to offer. Transfer window A BCCI official rationalised the one-year rule (for under-22 and under-19 players) saying: “There will not be an auction next year, the transfer window will open in February 2009 and 75 players have already been offered a three-year contract. We don’t know if all the Indians placed for auction will be offered a BCCI contract in October 2008. “A franchise owner will have an opportunity during the transfer month, but it should also have options to recruit fresh players (Ranji Trophy, under-22 and under-19), on the basis of their performance in the 2008-09 season. The franchisees will have the advantage of the $ 5 million upper end cap on salary removed from the next season.” Franchise owners are obliged to pick at least for under-22 players in their squad of 16 from their designated catchment area. Emerging Media (owner of Jaipur region) may not find talented under-22 players in their catchment area and hence an exception may be made, but all for one-year. All this means that at least 32 players (under-22) will be offered a one-year contract. What’s surprised a few observers is that franchisees have offered a three-year contract to players who would be approaching the age of 40 by 2010.

[Chandan]

What do you guys say about this move of BCCI about letting the U-19 and U-22 players having just one year's contract? I am a bit confused. How is that going to help the players?

[beetle]

One year only contract will prevent them from getting complacent. They now know that they have to continue to learn and perform to get the contracts every year or atleast the first few years. Good move!

[umpire]

Every individual is different. Some will learn from their experience, some will learn from other experiences. If one of our youngster loses focus due to excess of money, well so be it. Din't Yuvi lost focus? But he learned. Our youngsters have real role model in Sachin, who has never lost focus after being richest cricketer. He got it very early in his career too.

[beetle]

>>>Our youngsters have real role model in Sachin, who has never lost focus after being richest cricketer. He got it very early in his career too. Tendulkar didn't get it without doing anything. He started making the really big bucks once he proved himself. But the manoj tiwaris ,rohit sharmas have got the big bucks without proving there worth .Although I am happy for them(Tiwari comes from a really poor home with old parents) ...but just hope they can keep the focus.

[umpire]

They have to, otherwise 2moro they will be replaced by U19 heroes. They have no choice but to keep their focus. Only performance will yield them more money next year.