Ravi Shastri calls on India to prioritise rescheduling India Premier League over T20 World Cup
Australia’s hold on hosting the T20 World Cup later this year is growing more tenuous by the day with one former India star suggesting domestic cricket then bilateral tours should be the focus as coronavirus restrictions ease.
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India coach Ravi Shastri feels his board should prioritise the Indian Premier League over the Twenty20 World Cup, a schedule debate that is expected to soon heat up at the highest possible level.
Australia is due to host the T20 World Cup from October 18 until November 15, but the COVID-19 pandemic has cast doubt over the event.
Cricket Australia chief executive Kevin Roberts has flagged that a final call may not come until August, with the AFL and NRL keenly monitoring the situation given several venues have signed exclusivity contracts with the World Cup organising committee.
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The International Cricket Council board, including CA chairman Earl Eddings, will have a video conference on May 28 to discuss the sport’s path out of the health crisis.
The ICC cricket committee, which shapes the laws of the game and features CA executive Belinda Clark, is expected to meet next week and contemplate issues like the use of saliva to shine the ball.
Should the World Cup be postponed, as some Australian players feel is increasingly likely, or cancelled then the sport’s superpower is expected to swoop in and claim that window for the IPL.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has indefinitely postponed its T20 bonanza, revealing that cancellation of this year’s IPL would cost approximately $A820 million.
Shastri, a personal mentor of Virat Kohli’s and the coach who steered India to their maiden Test series win in Australia, suggested domestic cricket then bilateral tours should be the focus of all boards as restrictions start to ease.
“What India’s lost out on is domestic cricket - the IPL for instance. When cricket resumes, we could give the IPL a priority,” Shastri told the Times of India.
“The difference between an international tournament and the IPL is that the IPL can be played between one or two cities and the logistics will be easier to manage.
“The same thing with bilaterals.
“It’ll be easier for us to tour one country and play there at specific grounds, (rather) than 15-16 teams flying in during these times. The International Cricket Council needs to look at this objectively.”
Roberts has enjoyed productive talks with the BCCI, with Kohli’s team on track to tour Australia and take part in a series worth $300m in broadcast revenue to CA.
The BCCI is also believed to be ready to play additional ODIs in Australia, a godsend for CA given its financial crisis, but in exchange would want Australian stars to take part in the IPL.
Eddings and Roberts have worked hard to restore CA’s relationship with the BCCI, which deteriorated in 2019 as India refused to reschedule an ODI tour.
Contract chaos remains as IPL looms large
Australia’s best cricketers return to work next week with the international calendar as uncertain as the nature of their contracts, and the financial health of the game under a cloud in this country or any other where it is played.
The big names traditionally use the eight weeks of leave granted to all contracted players to earn some pocket money at the IPL, but like almost everything else in business and sport, that was closed down.
Others who planned holidays or weddings had those plans scuttled too. Adam Zampa numbered among the latter.
Fitness tests are among the first things players face when they return to their state bodies and most sound like they will be returning in better condition than when they left.
Steve Smith did 21km on Sydney’s Bay Run in 1hr 35min thinking it was a half-marathon, when notified he was 100m short of the official length he did it again and shaved two minutes off the time.
David Warner is keeping fit posting dance videos with his family on social media and Alyssa Healy has been working on her golf swing with husband Mitchell Starc.
Looming as a potential issue — and one that could turn messy — is the proposal that the IPL replaces the T20 World Cup scheduled for October and November in Australia.
Many who understand the power of the BCCI believe the Indian domestic tournament will hold sway.
Cricket Australia faces the issue of releasing its biggest stars at the start of the home summer. It has reconciled itself somewhat to them using their leave period to play, but in the past offered fast bowlers longer contracts in the hope they’d use that time for recovery.
The likes of Pat Cummins or Josh Hazlewood incurring injury at the IPL would be a nightmare and the impact only heightened if the tournament was to be held in October-November.
India, as reported by The Australian this week, is expected to sweeten the deal for CA by offering two extra ODIs in the summer and guaranteeing its appearance in uncertain times. A no-show could potentially cost the local game $300 million.
All boards seem keen on helping each other through the crisis.
Should the Australian players get paid for the time they are away playing in the IPL when it is not their leave period?
The Australian reported on Thursday of a proposed get-out clause for contracted players should their pay drop below a certain mark in the next 12 months.
Cricket Australia said on Thursday the clause was there to protect low-paid players who might only have a contract in a T20 league, for example.
Speaking on Gerard Whateley’s SEN program, Australian Cricketers Association boss Alistair Nicholson confirmed that this was his understanding of the clause as well.
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“We are talking about a number of mechanisms around contracting,” Nicholson said. “It’s something that is in the mix but it is in the background of uncertainty around the re-forecasting or the forecasting for the next financial year and that’s something we will get in the next few weeks from Cricket Australia.
“A lot of it is around the percentage retainer clause where contracts can be connected by a percentage to the overall pool that they are connected to — that’s something we’ve offered to Cricket Australia as a potential contracting mechanism.
“If we do that what does that do to some of the younger players, some of the female players who are on lower contracts? How low can that potentially go? We are working through some of the scenarios there.
“It’s more of a case of if we do put in a new clause to give Cricket Australia more flexibility around contracting what are the consequences on all our player groups?”
REVENUE-SHARE HAS NERVOUS PLAYERS SEEKING EXIT OPTION
Australian cricketers are asking for the right to be released from their contracts should their pay drop below a nominated amount in the next 12 months.
The Australian Cricketers Association and Cricket Australia are circling each other in talks over how to handle the administration’s claims of a cash crisis and projections of further impact over the summer.
The players are paid a percentage of cricket revenue and have, since the alarms were first sounded at CA, said they believe that this is the best way to handle any loss of revenue should future tours be cancelled, crowds be banned or other impacts of the pandemic affect the summer.
Cricket Australia named the 35 men and women offered central contracts at the end of April. The states and BBL teams are now drawing up their playing lists which will be in place for the next financial year.
Under the current model, if revenue drops or rises, the players pay drops or rises accordingly. CA however want to front load the pain.
In discussions with News Corp Australia on Wednesday, CA likened their proposal to rent relief in that they would ask the players to accept less up front with the balance to be paid down the track should the worst not occur.
The players are already owed around $80m which is sitting in a fund known as the adjustment ledger. That money accrued when the broadcast deal and other revenues post the signing of the MOU in 2017 exceeded expectation.
The ACA and CA do not see eye-to-eye on the current financial position of the game, with the players body, like some states, arguing the position is not that bad that it warrants 25 per cent cuts.
The players have suggested a percentage based retainer this year, which would allow their contracted pay to be cut by set amounts if and when future losses are incurred.
They believe the losses can be drawn down from the reserves in the adjustment ledger.
The most controversial part of the ACA’s stance was revealed to News Corp Australia on Wednesday after the players body contacted members and explained it wanted a clause in the 2020-21 contracts which allows the players to nominate what was described as a “release amount” where they can walk away from the contract should the retainer drop below that amount.
The player would nominate that amount. The clause would affect all international and state players and could create enormous headaches for the administration.
It triggers memories of the original MOU dispute which saw all Australian players without contracts when they failed to reach an agreement with CA, but the situation is a long way from becoming that ugly.
Another issue facing players and administrators is the rapidly moving plan to hold the IPL in October-November with the expectation that the T20 World Cup scheduled for those dates in Australia is unlikely to go ahead.
Players are not discouraged from using their eight weeks leave at this time of year to attend the IPL but it would be an interesting notion to see them released while on contract with CA to earn millions in the BCCI’s domestic league.
India is willing to offer a carrot to Australia and play extra ODIs in the summer to encourage the release of players, but CA would appear within their rights to question whether it should pay players who are not available in that period.
CA is, however, given a percentage of player contracts by the BCCI.
Originally published as Ravi Shastri calls on India to prioritise rescheduling India Premier League over T20 World Cup