Quit International Cricket: IPL Franchises Offer 6 English Players With Multi-Million Pound Deal

[Tillu]

Owners of top IPL franchises are trying to convince as many as six premier England players to quit international cricket and take up handsome annual contracts ranging up to 5 million pounds in order to play T20 leagues round the year, the 'Times London' reported. Almost all the 10 IPL franchises have branched out in various leagues, including CPL (West Indies), SA T20 (South Africa), Global T20 League (UAE) and the upcoming Major League T20 in the US. The report, however, doesn't state which are the franchise that have approached and who are the players involved in the discussion.

There will also be an ambitious Saudi T20 league where some of the IPL franchises might be investing.

'The Times' report quotes: "Initial discussions have taken place after at least six English players, including some international stars, were approached by IPL franchise owners and asked whether, in principle, they would accept a deal that would make an Indian team their main employer, rather than the ECB or an English county." "This development follows discussions among players' unions around the world about the potential implications of 12-month franchise contracts, which would be a significant step towards the football model of elite players being primarily contracted to their team and released for international duty, rather than the other way around.

"One source told The Times that contract offers could come as soon as the end of the year." There is no doubt that T20 cricket is here to stay and T10 is also fast catching the imagination of the public.

While ICC has always thought about putting a cap on the number of leagues that an active contracted player can take part in a year, one can't rule out a possibility of a lot of young players either retiring from international cricket or giving up on central contracts to become free agents. The only hurdle in such a scenario could be 'NOC' from the respective country's cricket board.

"The probability of such a model being adopted has grown increasingly likely in recent years as some IPL franchise owners have bought stakes in several T20 tournaments in the UAE, South Africa, Caribbean — and now the United States with the new Major League Cricket venture which begins in July," the newspaper was quoted as saying.

The paper also claimed that a discussion on similar lines took place with star Australian T20 specialists also.

"Discussions have already taken place with a number of high-profile Australian players about full-time deals but this has now been extended to English players. Contracts could be worth upwards of GBP 2 million a year and even as high as GBP 5 million — more than five times the value of the highest England central contracts." The paper also spoke about the possibility of having partial contracts both with ECB or county and the IPL franchise, especially, the ones who play white-ball cricket.

"Reduced IPL deals — covering at least three of the rounds — would also be on offer. It is unlikely that any of England's Test stars will walk away from their central contracts in favour of a franchise contract but the sheer amount of money on offer makes that a risk in the future.

"What is more likely is that players will arrange "bespoke" deals depending on their own circumstances, which could result in them being part-contracted to their county or the ECB and part-contracted to a franchise."

NDTV

[zen]

As I have said that IPL is not about Team India or any international side. IPL does not play players to groom them, give practice to them, or try them out for selectors of national sides. Franchises would prefer if players were devoted more to them. IPL teams play players as per form, combination, conditions, etc. to give "them" the best chance to win a game. That performance of players is noticed and used for selection purposes of other teams is a byproduct of IPL and not the goal of the IPL teams. 

 

 

[rkt.india]

2 hours ago, zen said:

As I have said that IPL is not about Team India or any international side. IPL does not play players to groom them, give practice to them, or try them out for selectors of national sides. Franchises would prefer if players were devoted more to them. IPL teams play players as per form, combination, conditions, etc. to give "them" the best chance to win a game. That performance of players is noticed and used for selection purposes of other teams is a byproduct of IPL and not the goal of the IPL teams. 

 

 

but the franchises have not made these players. These players have honed their cricket using the infrastructure of respective boards. So boards wont allow them do go their way like that easily.   

[zen]

13 minutes ago, rkt.india said:

but the franchises have not made these players. These players have honed their cricket using the infrastructure of respective boards. So boards wont allow them do go their way like that easily.   

it is up to the players, who can quit international cricket. Examples include Narine. 
 

Players even leave their countries to play for other countries. Examples include many South African players who play for England. Jofra Archer, a WI, who now plays for England.

 

Edited April 27, 2023 by zen

[Vickydev]

 

1 hour ago, rkt.india said:

but the franchises have not made these players. These players have honed their cricket using the infrastructure of respective boards. So boards wont allow them do go their way like that easily.   

Good point. Franchises hardly play any role in bringing through players through academies etc. I can imagine domestic teams especially in the UK bring about causes to prevent budding cricketers from slipping away like this. 

[zen]

6 hours ago, Vickydev said:

 

Good point. Franchises hardly play any role in bringing through players through academies etc. I can imagine domestic teams especially in the UK bring about causes to prevent budding cricketers from slipping away like this. 

In a free world, the best and only way to hold someone is to offer him a similar or better package. 

[zen]

It appears as if over the next few years, we will see a transition to franchise cricket where international LOI cricket apart from major events will take the back seat. 
 

IPL too wants to have 2 seasons per year (or even a longer season). Eventually, it will work towards that. 
 

International bilateral LOI cricket could be more or less about B (or even C) teams like we see in the Pak v NZ series where top NZ players are playing IPL, and where such series would turn into impressing the franchises to get picked by them!

 

[Vickydev]

48 minutes ago, zen said:

In a free world, the best and only way to hold someone is to offer him a similar or better package. 

Of course but I think franchises will end up having to pay compensation to the domestic teams. There is no incentives for them otherwise to bring through players if they are playing for other sides. Binding young players coming through to such contracts will be the norm from the local sides

[zen]

2 minutes ago, Vickydev said:

Of course but I think franchises will end up having to pay compensation to the domestic teams. There is no incentives for them otherwise to bring through players if they are playing for other sides. Binding young players coming through to such contracts will be the norm from the local sides

Franchises would not mind that but note that domestic teams are not doing any favours to players, who are coming up through their own hard work. A Ranji team, for e.g., has no stake in a Ranji player that it can think that it owns the player like some article. Players switch domestic teams, national teams, etc. (not obliged at all).

[Vickydev]

7 minutes ago, zen said:

Franchises would not mind that but note that domestic teams are not doing any favours to players, who are coming up through their own hard work. A Ranji team, for e.g., has no stake in a Ranji player that it can think that it owns the player like some article. Players switch domestic teams, national teams, etc. (not obliged at all).

I think we will have to let go of this thinking once a full fledged parallel market of franchise cricket emerges outside of international cricket which these domestic teams primarily serve. That's why I said it'll probably happen in UK first where there is already a club vs country debate in different sports. Player contracts will start being modified keeping these thoughts in mind

[zen]

5 minutes ago, Vickydev said:

I think we will have to let go of this thinking once a full fledged parallel market of franchise cricket emerges outside of international cricket which these domestic teams primarily serve. That's why I said it'll probably happen in UK first where there is already a club vs country debate in different sports. Player contracts will start being modified keeping these thoughts in mind

What is the issue is here? Players always move from one tier to another. It is just that franchise cricket would be the top tier for LOIs (IPL already is but with even more big leagues expected to come up in future). 

[Vickydev]

1 minute ago, zen said:

What is the issue is here? Players always move from one tier to another. It is just that franchise cricket would be the top tier for LOIs (IPL already is but with even more big leagues expected to come up in future). 

There is no issue brother. These domestic teams are basically paid for by the boards, they serve the national team.

 

Players skipping domestic cricket to play for the international cricket team is different from skipping that to play in leagues. There will be demand to be compensated if they can have such contracts made. 

 

Again this when as you say Franchise cricket becomes the norm over other LOIs. 

If international LOI cricket takes a back seat they will start wanting revenue through player sales, transfers. And players are already part of transfers between IPL teams just that domestic sides can start eating into the pie. 

[zen]

1 minute ago, Vickydev said:

There is no issue brother. These domestic teams are basically paid for by the boards, they serve the national team.

 

Players skipping domestic cricket to play for the international cricket team is different from skipping that to play in leagues. There will be demand to be compensated if they can have such contracts made. 

 

Again this when as you say Franchise cricket becomes the norm over other LOIs. 

If international LOI cricket takes a back seat they will start wanting revenue through player sales, transfers. And players are already part of transfers between IPL teams just that domestic sides can start eating into the pie. 

There are multiple stakeholders in franchise cricket. For e.g.  in India, BCCI and IPL franchises share both revenues and Indian players. 
 

On the other hand, there is a case where a player wants to play only for a franchise, which is again different and comes under free world. 
 

Each tier also has its own revenue stream. Even though Pak v NZ series is not in the same tier as IPL, it would be followed at least by cricket fans in Pak, while the rest of the world is glued to IPL. 
 

 

[Vickydev]

8 minutes ago, zen said:

There are multiple stakeholders in franchise cricket. For e.g.  in India, BCCI and IPL franchises share both revenues and Indian players. 
 

On the other hand, there is a case where a player wants to play only for a franchise, which is again different and comes under free world. 
 

Each tier also has its own revenue stream. Even though Pak v NZ series is not in the same tier as IPL, it would be followed at least by cricket fans in Pak, while the rest of the world is glued to IPL. 
 

 

Do English players still give away a part of their IPL salary to the ECB? I mean that's not a free world right. I'm not sure if the county sides get paid too

 

If it becomes year round then obviously they will ask for more. And that's for the established players for the younger players coming through they could easily see this as an earning option by adding clauses where they get decent compensation. 

 

[zen]

4 minutes ago, Vickydev said:

Do English players still give away a part of their IPL salary to the ECB? I mean that's not a free world right. I'm not sure if the county sides get paid too

 

If it becomes year round then obviously they will ask for more. And that's for the established players for the younger players coming through they could easily see this as an earning option by adding clauses where they get decent compensation. 

 

Yeah, all boards that participate get some $$$ from IPL, one of the reasons that IPL has its own window. 
 

But if a player retires from international cricket (like Rayudu has), it is a different matter. 

[maniac]

Not good for cricket but this is inevitable. Will happen sooner or later. Also if IPL can fund and scout young athletes from WI, Aus,SA, Eng, SL to be full time IPL players that might change the way cricket will be played.

[Tillu]

If you write a list of the three most important Ashes players this summer then Ben Stokes, Joe Root and Jofra Archer are pretty close to the top.

Without Stokes's inspirational leadership – and the complete absence of a deputy ready to step in – England's Ashes hopes disappear into thin air if he is injured.

Without Archer, England lose a bowler with match-winning shock value and are left relying on Mark Wood and Olly Stone for pace and neither have particularly encouraging fitness records.

Without Root's consistency and stability at No 4, England are fragile and even more susceptible to sudden, Test match-losing collapses. It is fun watching Bazball in all its glory but Root rediscovered his tempo for Test cricket at the end of the New Zealand tour and England, even though they narrowly lost that game, are a better team when he is batting that way.

Stokes, Rob Key and to a lesser extent, Brendon McCullum (a lesser extent because he does not quite get English cricket just yet) realise the Ashes is the men's Test team's only yardstick.

Win this summer and it will be a glorious culmination for 'Bazball'. Lose and it will not be the death of their new approach (nobody is going back to playing the old way) but it will be a serious setback, a deflating bursting of the bubble that will lead Australians gloating even louder than what has gone before.

So it begs the question of why are England, and the three mentioned at the top, not giving themselves the best chance to be lapping up the acclaim at the Oval in the last week of July?

They will argue that playing in the IPL, in high pressure matches, does more for them at this stage of their long careers than turning out in the championship.

There is some merit to that. But Stokes is injured – again – and a long way from the medical supervision of the England team, even if they are in 'constant dialogue' with his franchise, Chennai Super Kings.

Archer, as revealed by Will MacPherson for Telegraph Sport, jetted off to Belgium from the IPL to have more surgery on his right elbow. He is now back in the IPL playing for Mumbai Indians, bowling quickly and looking sharp.

 

But while Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins rest ahead of the Ashes, England's precious quicks (including Wood) are playing in conditions as far removed from Test cricket in England as it is possible to get with no tangible benefit for English cricket.

Root is experiencing his first IPL but as a tea boy for Rajasthan Royals. He is apparently batting a lot in the nets but that cannot replicate the challenges of facing Australia with a Duke ball in England. His last actual innings was in the Wellington Test in February.

Steve Smith and Marnus Labuschagne have given themselves a better chance by warming up in county cricket than England's own leading players.

Archer may never play Test cricket again. Who can blame him for wanting to forge his career in India? But England would love to throw him in halfway through the Ashes, to win one Test match at a crucial time. Staying at home, recuperating in England and building up to bowling in red ball cricket would seem the most sensible option.

Stokes could barely walk off the field at Wellington due to his chronic knee injury. He has bowled one very stiff and tentative over for CSK in the IPL and while his latest injury is said to be a toe problem, rather than his knee, it is still the case that England's most valuable cricketer is working for someone else and nobody really knows when he is going to return (he has been vague when asked).

Harry Brook is in India too and losing confidence as he struggles to adapt to the pressure of being a big-money overseas signing. Perhaps slapping around county attacks (Like Ollie Pope and Zak Crawley) would have been better than exposure to more scrutiny in the world's biggest league when there is an Ashes coming up. Burnout must be a worry.

 

But all this is a symptom of a wider reality. England, and the ECB, have little or no power to say no to India. The IPL is picking off their best players before the most anticipated Ashes series since 2005 and there is nothing they can do about it because of the salaries being paid and the future opportunities that becoming a star in India affords.

Key admitted this week that the IPL is paying Archer two or three times more than the ECB. Stokes sees a long term future at CSK that assures his financial security for life and the IPL is only going to expand and the salaries go up.

Instead of repeating the kind of conflict they had with Kevin Pietersen more than a decade ago over IPL opportunities the ECB has taken a more realistic view, but it would be nice if the Ashes came first, if only for this summer. Come home Ben, come home Joe, come home Jofra. Then again, that is wishful and outdated thinking in this new world order.

 

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/cricket/2023/04/27/england-ecb-are-powerless-to-india-ashes-first/

Edited April 28, 2023 by Tillu

[Tillu]

[Tillu]

EXCLUSIVE: Mumbai Indians are set to offer Jofra Archer a year-round contract - which would require the ECB to gain permission to pick him for England - as the IPL giants look to gain greater control over bowler's future

 

Jofra Archer is set to be offered a year-round, multi-million-pound deal by Mumbai Indians that would require the ECB to gain permission from the IPL franchise to pick him for England.

The fast bowler left the IPL earlier this week for treatment on an elbow injury in the hope of being fit for the Ashes, much to Mumbai’s frustration over his lack of game-time.

Mumbai have been hugely supportive of Archer throughout his injury problems — even signing him up on an £800,000 contract for last year’s competition when he was sidelined, to ensure he would represent them in the 2023 edition. Now they are understood to want more control over his schedule.

 

 

If the Ashes and England’s 50-over World Cup defence had not been on the horizon, Archer may have played through the pain barrier in the IPL, but for the moment he is intent on prioritising his international career.

Archer has yet to hold talks with Mumbai over moving to an annual contract, a revolutionary departure IPL franchises hope to introduce to coincide with their next mega-auction in 2025.

 

Other England players are understood to have been targeted for 12-month deals, including Alex Hales, who pulled out of this year’s IPL despite being signed by the Kolkata Knight Riders.

Mumbai Indians’ owners Reliance Industries also control T20 teams in South Africa and the UAE, as well as the New York franchise in Major League Cricket, so are exploring recruiting an elite roster of full-time players.

Anyone signing a permanent deal would require permission to play for their country if there was a clash with franchise commitments.

In that event, Rajasthan Royals owner Manoj Badale suggested last week that Test cricket could become a niche annual occasion similar to Wimbledon.

The ECB are well aware of the threat to the central-contact system posed by the wealth of IPL franchises and are exploring offering stars multi-year deals.

 

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/cricket/article-12069879/IPL-giants-Mumbai-Indians-set-offer-Jofra-Archer-multi-million-pound-year-round-contract.html

[nevada]

22 minutes ago, Tillu said:

EXCLUSIVE: Mumbai Indians are set to offer Jofra Archer a year-round contract - which would require the ECB to gain permission to pick him for England - as the IPL giants look to gain greater control over bowler's future

 

Jofra Archer is set to be offered a year-round, multi-million-pound deal by Mumbai Indians that would require the ECB to gain permission from the IPL franchise to pick him for England.

The fast bowler left the IPL earlier this week for treatment on an elbow injury in the hope of being fit for the Ashes, much to Mumbai’s frustration over his lack of game-time.

Mumbai have been hugely supportive of Archer throughout his injury problems — even signing him up on an £800,000 contract for last year’s competition when he was sidelined, to ensure he would represent them in the 2023 edition. Now they are understood to want more control over his schedule.

 

 

If the Ashes and England’s 50-over World Cup defence had not been on the horizon, Archer may have played through the pain barrier in the IPL, but for the moment he is intent on prioritising his international career.

Archer has yet to hold talks with Mumbai over moving to an annual contract, a revolutionary departure IPL franchises hope to introduce to coincide with their next mega-auction in 2025.

 

Other England players are understood to have been targeted for 12-month deals, including Alex Hales, who pulled out of this year’s IPL despite being signed by the Kolkata Knight Riders.

Mumbai Indians’ owners Reliance Industries also control T20 teams in South Africa and the UAE, as well as the New York franchise in Major League Cricket, so are exploring recruiting an elite roster of full-time players.

Anyone signing a permanent deal would require permission to play for their country if there was a clash with franchise commitments.

In that event, Rajasthan Royals owner Manoj Badale suggested last week that Test cricket could become a niche annual occasion similar to Wimbledon.

The ECB are well aware of the threat to the central-contact system posed by the wealth of IPL franchises and are exploring offering stars multi-year deals.

 

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/cricket/article-12069879/IPL-giants-Mumbai-Indians-set-offer-Jofra-Archer-multi-million-pound-year-round-contract.html

It will be a better option for Archer than with England, where people grumbled about him playing for the country when he made his debut and Root made him bowl as much as a spinner, disregarding the fact that this could lead to injury. Archer's body couldn't take the strain and broke down.