Michael Vaughan, the former England skipper thinks that if the poms are to have any chance of competing in the ICC World T20 in the West Indies next year, they should be allowed to play in the IPL.
Before I say anything, here is what he had to say:
“We should be making our players available for the whole of the IPL window. We are not great at Twenty20 cricket. We’ve got a Twenty20 World Cup in May and at the minute we’ve got no chance.”
That coming from the former skipper of a nation which apart from inventing Cricket, also invented T20 Cricket is surprising, though also a reality check on the quality of cricket played in their Domestic Setup.
Another reason could be that the IPL is in March,the World Cup in May and the English Domestic T20 Championship much later. On that count, Vaughan has a point. Vaughan always has a point. Just that no one cares.
What if this a cloaked statement? We all know how richly sold were Kevin Pietersen and Freddy Flintoff, and how wrong were their valuations. Could this be an advocacy of riches for the few talented players in the top rung, who missed out on the IPL Pie last year? I would not deny it.
If Michael Vaughan thinks his statement will carry enough weight to impress the boards, he is, as always, mistaken. The players will go the IPL, but not for the whole tournament, as they have the highly lucrative Bangladesh knocking on their doors.