Gary Kirsten
Gary Kirstein has re-ignited the IPL controversy by saying that many cricketers could follow the Andrew Flintoff path of announcing retirements from the longest format of the game, to play in the million dollar baby, the Indian Premier League. Flintoff had earlier announced that he will not play in test matches, but concentrate only on the ODIs and T20s once the Ashes had ended. Earlier, even Chris Gayle and Jacob Oram had made similar announcements, for varying reasons, but essentially due to the impact that the IPL has had on the player earnings.
Kirstein said that it was only natural that players would want to make that leap; playing for five days in a test match and bowling 20 overs a day at that, does not seem as exciting as earning four times the sum of money by bowling four overs a game after all! According to Kirstein, there was no reason why Flintoff should be criticised for his decision to do that, as it was only natural and more players will follow suit if given an opportunity.
Kirstein fell short of adding that the Indian team has begun to play far lesser number of test matches than they actually should when said,
“India plays six Tests this year. Is that sufficient or are there other priorities? I don’t know.”
However, he also recommended that there should be more T20Is planned on international tours. From India’s perspective, they do not play a single such game till the start of the ICC World T20 in West Indies early next year and this could be hazardous for the team again.
He added, “What should be happening is that we should be going on tour and playing six Twenty20 games and one or two 50-over games. I think that’s going to happen. It’s just a matter of time”.
Kirstein had earlier been critical about having IPL so immediately preceding the ICC World T20, which meant that most cricketers were fatigued by the time they played in the World T20, causing the loss. The BCCI had asked Kirstein to not air his views about IPL in public.
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