IPL supremacy laid bare as Ricky Ponting leaves Test early, Thunder coach to skip BBL match

The IPL’s stranglehold on the cricket calendar will be underscored this week with Ricky Ponting and Sydney Thunder coach Trevor Bayliss both prioritising gigs in India over prominent roles at home.

The IPL’s stranglehold on the cricket calendar will be underscored this week with Ricky Ponting and World Cup-winning coach Trevor Bayliss prioritising the league’s auction over their other prominent roles at a time the spectre of a second tournament window threatens to “create havoc” around the cricket world.

While the likes of Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood and Travis Head stand to be among the big financial winners when 333 players go under the hammer at the IPL mini-auction on Tuesday night in Dubai, they won’t be the only big-name Australians involved at the event.

Ponting and Justin Langer will both be among those in attendance in their roles as coaches of the Delhi Capitals and Lucknow Super Giants respectively.

In Ponting’s case, it meant he left Channel 7’s commentary team following day three of the first Test in a pre-arranged move.

Langer, also part of Seven’s rotation of commentators, remained in Perth and will head to the UAE following the Test.

The primacy of the Indian league will also be illustrated on Tuesday night when Bayliss misses a match involving the BBL club he coaches - Sydney Thunder - because he is needed in Dubai given his role as coach of the Punjab Kings.

Sydney Thunder coach Trevor Bayliss will miss his side’s next match for the IPL auction. Picture: Matt King/Getty Images

Australian assistant coach Daniel Vettori will also be in Dubai for the auction having been signed during the year as head coach of the Sunrisers Hyderabad.

Reports out of India in recent days have suggested that the BCCI is planning a secondary T10 IPL tournament during the September-October window from next year to complement the main IPL season in April and May.

It comes at a time when the IPL’s hegemony is threatening to pull top Australian players into year-round contracts in which they would effectively be loaned to the national side rather than the other way around.

Australian Cricketers’ Association chief executive Todd Greenberg said the developments out of the subcontinent were potentially game-changing.

“My first impression was it was certainly no surprise,” Greenberg told SEN on Sunday.

“There was always going to be an additional window which is going to create havoc on bilateral cricket and the rest of the cricketing community so it’s a real challenge.

“And it’s not something I think you can just simply take a short-term view on. I genuinely think we need to be conscious of ensuring that all of international cricket need to continue playing meaningful cricket. So we’ve seen that improve with the World Test Championship which has contributed to Test cricket. Mind you I would say that we need to do more for some other countries that are getting further away I think in Test match cricket.

“This will be difficult. It will be obviously lucrative for the very elite players but will put enormous pressure on boards and bilateral cricket all over the world.”

Originally published as IPL supremacy laid bare as Ricky Ponting leaves Test early, Thunder coach to skip BBL match