Former Indian cricketer Sunil Gavaskar has come down hard on foreign cricket boards and players, who are leaving the Indian Premier League early to play for their countries. IPL 2024 is nearing its business end with playoffs set to commence from May 21. However, some players will not be part of it as they will leave the franchises for their national duty.

In his column for Mid Day, Gavaskar has stated that he is in favour of players featuring for their countries but the IPL franchises have paid them heavy money to be available for the full season. Notably, the England Cricket Board has called all of its T20 World Cup-bound players for the series against Pakistan, which will begin on May 22.

“I am all for players choosing country before anything else but having assured various franchises about their availability for the full season, if they pull out now, it will be letting down the franchises which probably pay them more money in one IPL season which they don’t earn in a few seasons with their country. The franchises should not only be allowed to deduct a substantial amount from the fee that the player was bought for, but also not give the Board, to which the player belongs, the stated 10 per cent commission of the fee that each player gets,” Gavaskar wrote in his column.

He continued to detail his opinions citing that the BCCI pay commissions to the other boards which no other board does. “If the Board has gone back on its assurance they need to be penalised too. By the way, this 10 per cent commission to the Boards happens only in the IPL and nowhere else. Not in the Australian Big Bash nor in the ECB’s The Hundred, nor in the Caribbean Premier League, nor any other T20 league anywhere else in the world. Does the BCCI get any thanks for its generosity? No way,” he added.

Notably, while announcing their squad for the T20 World Cup, the ECB said that its players would have to come back home for the series against Pakistan. “Selected players, currently playing in the Indian Premier League, will return in time for the series against Pakistan, which gets underway at Headingley on Wednesday 22 May 2024,” ECB said in its release. 

Apart from the England players, CSK’s Mustafizur Rahman and PBKS’ Sikandar Raza have gone back home to feature for their national teams.