'Player should be restricted to IPL and two other leagues' - Sunil Gavaskar bewails foreign stars' casual attitude in MLC

Sunil Gavaskar opined that players should be restricted to playing in the Indian Premier League and two other franchise tournaments to preserve the quality of all such competitions. The former India captain was particularly disappointed with the quality of the recently concluded edition of Major League Cricket (MLC) 2024.

Gavaskar said that the quality of the league had dropped from the inaugural edition last year. The 75-year-old, who was part of the broadcasting team for the cash-rich league, lamented the abysmal turnout compared to the first season. He mentioned several reasons for the same and suggested that players should be capped to play a maximum of three franchise tournaments.

"For some reason, the crowds were not quite there this time around. Maybe it was viewer fatigue because of the ICC T20 World Cup preceding the tournament. The cricket was also not of the same high quality as last year. Maybe, because there were too many ordinary players there. The international stars who play in various T20 leagues around the world also seemed a little casual," Gavaskar wrote in his column for The Sportstar.

"This makes one feel that while nobody wants the players’ source of income to be curbed, it is worth considering if players should be restricted to playing in, say, three leagues. The whole world agrees that the IPL is the best and most competitive tournament because of the talent pool it attracts from all over the world. So maybe a player should be restricted to the IPL and two other leagues of his choice," he added.

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It is also a bit strange to see players who play for one franchise in the IPL playing for the team of another rival IPL franchise in T20 leagues: Sunil Gavaskar

Gavaskar spoke about players playing for a certain franchise in the IPL going on to wear the jersey of a rival IPL team in other franchise leagues. The cricketer-turned-commentator said that it's quite odd to see them playing for different teams with different owners against their IPL teams' sister franchises. As many as three teams in the MLC are backed by owners of IPL franchises - MI New York, Texas Super Kings, and Los Angeles Knight Riders.

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"It is also a bit strange to see players who play for one franchise in the IPL playing for the team of another rival IPL franchise in the other leagues. It is perfectly understandable if the franchise they play for in the IPL does not have a team in the various countries’ T20 leagues, but it does seem odd to see them wearing the jersey of a rival IPL team franchise in the other leagues," Gavaskar added in his column.