Franchises reluctant to release players for the All Stars game just before IPL 2020

Recently, the President of the Board of Control for Cricket in India [BCCI] announced that an All-Stars game will be played ahead of the 13th edition of the Indian Premier League. The All Stars game will see two teams-representing North-East and South-West zone IPL franchises- lock horns in what is being tipped as an annual affair from this year onwards. 

The South-West zone franchises include Chennai Super Kings, Mumbai Indians, Royal Challengers Bangalore, and Sunrisers Hyderabad and the North-East zone will include teams like Kolkata Knight Riders, Delhi Capitals, Rajasthan Royals and Kings XI Punjab. The announcement was met with huge anticipation by the fans and pundits alike, but it seems that the franchise owners are not too keen on allowing their players for the marquee fixture.

There are commercial and cricket reasons involved for the franchises to disallow their players from participating in the match, just days before the cash-rich league gets underway.

“Commercially, we are not okay if players don’t wear our jersey (regardless of an All Stars game),” a franchise owner was quoted as saying by Times of India.

Franchise owners not keen on allowing their players for the All-Stars game

The All Stars match is likely to be scheduled on March 26, three days before the start of the IPL on March 29, and although the game is organized for a charitable cause, franchise owners believe sharing a player just a few days ahead of the marquee competition does not make any sense.

“Sharing a player just days or a week before the start of the IPL doesn’t make sense. A player will have to miss out on team bonding exercises and travel that much more. There’s only that much time that players who arrive from all over the world get to bond with each other before the start of the tournament. It doesn’t make sense,” another franchise owner told TOI.

The report also suggests that Sourav Ganguly may have informally announced the dates of the 13th edition of the IPL- March 29 to May 24- but the schedule is yet to be finalized.

“Once there’s clarity on who’ll be India’s board representative at ICC, that individual will also have to be at the ICC meetings. They’ll have to take a re-look at the starting date of the IPL once again,” a source told TOI.

The board meeting of the ICC is set to take place in the last week of March and BCCI secretary Jay Shah- who has been appointed as India’s CEC representative at the ICC- will have to be present in the meeting.

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