Spinners to have bigger role in latter half of IPL when the pitches wear out

The IPL has got off to a glorious start and the crowds have been treated to some incredibly close games. The first week, it was teams chasing that won most of the games but the second week has seen teams batting first who are winning the games.

Of course, those teams have batted well and have got nearly 200 runs. Any team which has an asking rate of over nine runs an over is under tremendous pressure to get off to a brisk start and often lose wickets in the attempt and the pressure just intensifies and eventually they find themselves short of the target. The pitches have been excellent so far and that’s also one of the prime reason that there have been scores of nearly 200.

Next month, the same pitches will be little tired and worn out and the spinners will come more into play. The legspinners have flourished on the pitches because the true bounce has allowed them to get the zip and extra bounce off the pitch which has surprised even top players of spin bowling.

Meanwhile, a couple of news items appearing from the old powers have been quite interesting. In England, the counties seemed to have just got to know that their board has been getting a healthy percentage of the fees that their country’s players were getting paid by their IPL franchises. While the IPL clashes only with the West Indian season and the early part of the English season, every country’s board whose players get picked for the IPL get a 20% share of the player’s fee.

The share was 10% till last year but with the BCCI getting a huge TV and sponsors rights deal, they have now doubled it to 20%. To be sure, its also to make sure that the respective boards give the NOC to the players from their country but it is extremely generous to say the least.

There is no such reciprocal deal by these boards when they have their own leagues or championships where overseas players participate but then that shouldn’t come as a surprise. Generosity doesn’t come as naturally to them as can be seen with the pay disputes they have had with their players. Of course, our generosity is also to a great extent due to the complex where we seek approval from overseas players virtually all the time.

Don’t mock the ban

The other item that caught the eye was a former Australian player suggesting that it might be a good idea from the Australian point of view for the banned duo of Steve Smith and David Warner to play some county cricket.

If that happens, then it will be sheer mockery of the ban imposed on them by the Australian Cricket Board. If they are banned from playing for New South Wales, why should they be allowed to play for an English county? The Australian board did allow them to play club cricket but no first class cricket and that should be the case all over the world.

So if Smith and Warner want to play in the club leagues in England, that’s fine but to uphold the spirit of the ban, they should not be allowed to play any first class cricket anywhere or the T20 leagues that other countries have.

Remember how Mohammad Amir was not allowed to play even club cricket while his five-year ban was in place. Similarly, there should be no exception made for the Aussies. The two offences may have been as different as chalkand-cheese but a ban is a ban and has to be respected by all the cricketing boards.