IPL Franchises Not Keen to Release Players for All-Stars Game Ahead of Tournament
The prospect of watching their favourite cricket stars from around the globe team-up or face each other is certainly a taste to savour for fans such as those in a cricket-crazy country like India. However, IPL franchises aren’t excited about the fancied game with concerns over players and commercial loss.
BCCI President Sourav Ganguly’s Announcement in early January to introduce an All-Star game ahead of the 2020 edition of Indian Premier League (IPL), has got fans excites and thrilled. The prospect of watching their favourite cricket stars from around the globe team-up or face each other is certainly a taste to savour for fans such as those in a cricket-crazy country like India. However, IPL franchises aren’t excited about the fancied game with concerns over players and commercial loss. IPL 2020 Schedule: Upcoming Season to Have 5 Double Headers, Concussion Substitute, 8 PM Start and Final in Mumbai.
According to a report of the Times of India, the franchises of the cash-rich league aren’t quite keen to get involved in the All-Stars game due to commercial and cricket reasons. “Commercially, we are not okay if players don’t wear our jersey,” a franchise owner told TOI. Other than this, the fitness of the players is also a reason due to which the team owners don’t want their players to feature in the game.
“Sharing a player just days or a week before the start of the IPL doesn’t make sense. There are injury risks involved. A player will have to miss out on team bonding exercises and travel that much more. There’s only that much time that players — who arrive from all over the world — get to bond with each other before the start of the tournament. It doesn’t make sense,” said another franchise.
Well, ignoring these issues will certainly not be easy for BCCI and the apex cricket body might be prompted to postpone the game after the tournament. Earlier, President Sourav Ganguly informally announced that the 2020 edition of the IPL will get underway on March 29. However, the official dates have not been confirmed yet by the board.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Feb 06, 2020 03:19 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).