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An additional slot for retired international cricketers in an IPL 11


zen

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As we know, a team can play 4 international players in the 11. If you are a retired international cricketer like a Steyn or a Watson or a Tahir, who may not necessarily be considered for one of the 4 slots but is still better than many of the local talent, you are out of luck and may even end up retiring from IPL sooner than anticipated. 

 

Why not create a 5th slot for such cricketers i.e. those the age of 30+ and retired from international cricket for at least 1 year before the start of IPL? This would mean that these cricketers can not only get into an 11 without pushing for one of the 4 slots, but also make the selection for the 7th local player more competitive.

 

In this IPL, we saw Tahir, who is still fit and competitive, on the bench with Piyush Chawla and Karan Sharma (probably not even 50% as good as Tahir) preferred because of the 7+4 rule. If Tahir is retired from international cricket, it is probably unfair on him to be competing with current international cricketers (only 4 slots available). If an additional slot is allowed for such retired international cricketers, a team can leverage on their experience esp. if they are still competitive and better than the 7th local cricketer. It also pushes the local cricketers to perform better than such retired cricketers to be considered for a spot in the 11. For e.g. a Umesh will need to improve his bowling or a retired (but still competitive enough) Steyn can be selected. 

 

In short, 6 local cricketers + 4 international cricketer + either 1 local (no restrictions/as usual) or retired international cricketer (age above 30 + retired 12 months before the start of IPL) as a way forward. 

 

Thoughts? 

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Retired or not shouldn't make a difference IMO. However, I feel an exception could be made if an overseas player(retired or active) has been with a franchise for 3 years or more. But one such exception per X1 only, otherwise teams will pack their X1 with non locals. The likes of AB, Warner, Pollard etc. are almost like locals for their franchises. 

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5 hours ago, nevada said:

Retired or not shouldn't make a difference IMO. However, I feel an exception could be made if an overseas player(retired or active) has been with a franchise for 3 years or more. But one such exception per X1 only, otherwise teams will pack their X1 with non locals. The likes of AB, Warner, Pollard etc. are almost like locals for their franchises. 


retired international player = usually someone past his peak. Therefore, competing more with the 7th local player. Or even bringing in a retired international player for brand value w/o needing to dilute the 4 slots 

 

playing an active international player (who is with the franchise for 3 years) as a local = basically playing with 5 international players (w/ all of them most likely to be at their peak/or in process of peaking) to turn it into 6+5 v 7+4 discussion 

 

the idea here is to not turn 7+4 into 6+5 but create a provision where retired international cricketers, whose experience can be leveraged and who can be more effective than the 7th local player, are accommodated 

 

For e.g. Warne can be still good for a few matches. RR will not sacrifice one of the 4 slots for a player well past his peak. But he can be a viable option over a Rajpoot/Unadkat, while also bringing in some more fans to the franchise. Similarly Gayle (when he retires) for K11, Malinga (well past his peak but still competitive and with brand value for MI), even Ponting can pad up for DC if he wants to, Watson, Tahir & Steyn can prolong their IPL career, and so on :dontknow:

Edited by zen
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15 minutes ago, Cricketics said:

Washed up skills have no place in IPL. If we want to keep IPL real, we need to come out of this bollywood mentality of bringing back legends. They only belong to commentary box, coaching staff or In Maharashtra police acknowledgement tournaments. 


Watson, Tahir, etc., are still good enough to play over a Karan Sharma, Pyush Chawla, etc.,   .... Gayle still a good power hitter (can’t run fast or field effectively now though)

 

Such players (who probably will not make it in the 4 slots now or in the near future) can improve the quality esp. if an extra slot is given for such cases (an option for the franchise where it makes sense. does not mean they have to exercise it)

 

Edited by zen
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We need 12-14 teams, 5 foreigners/team and 3 matches on Sat/Sun (1st match 9 am start) to get it done with in 9 weeks time. Quality will improve and honestly UP, Gujarat, Odisha, Kerala deserve teams...maybe a second team from Mah like Pune. 

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I would rather play a retired but competitive Tahir or Steyn over a Chawla, Karan Sharma or even a Gopal, Unadkat or Rajpoot .... the option to play such players should be made available to teams, who are playing to win the competition :dance:

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