Should players be allowed to prefer IPL over international cricket?
The recent happenings around South African cricket have once again thrown open a debate that has been going on ever since franchise cricket has started to gain popularity. Should international players be allowed to choose club over country? Several South African players have decided to participate in the IPL instead of playing for their nation.
The IPL begins on 26th March 2022, and the series between Bangladesh and South Africa ends only on 12th April. Several of South Africa’s first choice players like Kagiso Rabada, Marco Jansen, Lungi Ngidi and Aiden Markram will not be available for the Proteas for the Test series against Bangladesh.
As a result, the South African side was forced to name a Test squad sans their marquee players. Also, the Convenor of Selectors of the South African side, Victor Mpitsang, stated that even though the loss of players because of the IPL is not an ideal scenario for South African cricket, he has trust in the CSA system.
“The loss of the IPL players is not ideal, but we back the CSA system, its ever-growing pipeline and most of all, the players we have selected,” stated Mpitsang.
So, should there come a rule which says that the players should choose their country first over the IPL?
Well, if South Africa produces a poor performance in their home turf simply because of the fact that their main players are plying their trade in a T20 league and not devoting time to their country, is it fair then? As Elgar very beautifully put it, it is because of their performances for their national side that these players are noticed by the IPL franchises. “They mustn’t forget that Test and one-day cricket got them into the IPL, not the other way around,” said Elgar according to Cricbuzz.
A country should always come before club cricket, and there should be a system in place that does not allow a player to skip national duty when he is fully fit simply because he gets better pay somewhere else. After all, money cannot dictate everything in a sport, can it?
