The owners of some of the top Indian Premier League franchises are reportedly looking to offer six top England players a lavish multi-million dollar deal in an effort to persuade them to forego international cricket and instead play franchise cricket all year long, according to a report in PTI via the “Times London.”
The claimed amounts are in the neighborhood of 5 million pounds, or around 50 crore Indian rupees. The majority of the 10 IPL teams are now dabbling in overseas markets, supporting leagues throughout the world including the Caribbean Premier League, the SA T20 League in South Africa, the ILT20 League of the UAE, and the impending Major League Cricket in the USA.
The best England cricketers are being courted by many teams who are willing to pay multi-million dollar contracts, although neither the franchises nor the individuals involved were mentioned in the original Times London article.
A lot of talk has lately been made about Saudi Arabia’s plans to start the “richest T20 league” in the world, which may be of interest to IPL clubs as well.
Initial discussions have begun, according to a report in The Times, “after at least six English players, including some international stars, were approached by IPL franchise owners and asked if, in principle, they would accept a deal that would make an Indian team their primary employer, instead of 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,” read the report’s conclusion.
“One source told The Times that contract offers could come as soon as the end of the year,” it said.
One cannot rule out such a possibility given that T20 is expected to endure and grow in popularity over time. The ICC has also been considering limiting the number of leagues a player can participate in each year. The only obstacle that would prevent players from completely giving up their yearly central contracts are the NOCs needed from the cricket boards to compete in a league.
As some IPL franchise owners have acquired stakes in several T20 tournaments in the UAE, South Africa, Caribbean, and now the United States with the new Major League Cricket venture that begins in July, the probability of such a model being adopted has grown increasingly likely in recent years, according to the newspaper.
“Discussions regarding full-time contracts have previously been held with a number of prominent Australian players, but this has now been expanded to include English players. Contracts might have annual values of more than GBP 2 million and perhaps GBP 5 million, which is more than five times the amount of the highest England central contracts.
Reduced IPL contracts for at least three rounds would also be available. Even while it is doubtful that any of England’s Test players would choose to forego their core contracts in favor of franchise deals, the sheer amount of money on the table makes it a possibility in the future.
What is more probable is that players would negotiate “bespoke” contracts based on their unique circumstances, which might lead to them being partially signed to both a franchise and their county or the ECB.
