India vs Australia: Gavaskar weighs in on club vs country debate

Debates around the club vs country in cricket have become a regular occurrence, especially with the rise of Twenty20 leagues around the world, and Indian great Sunil Gavaskar feels the 'surety' of T20 Leagues is a more enticing option for some players.

Published : Dec 10, 2020 13:34 IST

Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar feels clubs should also have the authority to omit 'big-ticket players' if their form dwindles.
Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar feels clubs should also have the authority to omit 'big-ticket players' if their form dwindles.
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Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar feels clubs should also have the authority to omit 'big-ticket players' if their form dwindles.

Debates around the club vs country in cricket have become a regular occurrence, especially with the rise of Twenty20 leagues around the world, and Indian great Sunil Gavaskar feels the 'surety' of T20 Leagues is a more enticing option for some players.

"What seems to be happening now with the advent of the many T20 leagues all over the world is that once a player has represented the country for a long time and has crossed the age of 30, the thrill of pulling on his country’s cap seems to be diminishing as the pressure of expectations gets greater and so the surety of the T20 leagues is the easier option to take," Gavaskar wrote in his column for Sportstar.

"There won’t be the ignominy of being dropped for lack of performance in the T20 franchise as it could be with the national team. In the T20 leagues, whether a player performs or not he is guaranteed his fees, while at the national level he will be left out of the team," Gavaskar added.

 

The national versus club duties debate once again resurfaced after Rohit Sharma, having sat out four matches for the Mumbai Indians during the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020 league phase due to a hamstring injury, returned and made a 51-ball 68 in the final to help Mumbai win a record fifth IPL title. However, he was not part of the Indian contingent that flew directly from Dubai to Sydney on November 11 and will miss the first two Tests of the four-match Border Gavaskar Trophy.

Meanwhile, the likes of Australia white-ball skipper Aaron Finch and all-rounder Glenn Maxwell, who had rather modest returns in IPL, - Finch had 268 runs at a strike rate of 111.2 for RCB and Maxwell 108 runs at a strike rate of 101.88 for KXIP - have switched gears in national colours and had impactful performances with the bat in the limited-overs leg against India. Gavaskar feels clubs should also have the authority to omit 'big-ticket players' if their form dwindles.

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"The players who have failed in the IPL are putting a lot of thought and application when they are playing for their country and so have been successful. If only the franchises were given the authority to sack players who weren’t really trying and paying them only for the matches they had played till then, some of the big-ticket players’ performance would be a lot better in the IPL," Gavaskar said.

"So he [the player] can play without a worry in the leagues knowing that his fees are secure for the whole season. That’s why you see the difference in their approach when playing for their country. Nowhere has this been more evident than in the current series which has come within a fortnight of the IPL. Yes, money does make the mare go around."

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