The legendary leg-spinner admitted he has no problem with the money that the players are getting and it is very hard to decline big money. However, he feels international cricket is the place where a cricketer can test himself against the best.
“I don’t begrudge the players getting the money they have, it’s fantastic. If they want to take the money, (let them) take it. But if you want to play cricket for your country and (still) you choose to play the IPL over your country, then maybe it’s not worth picking those guys.
Otherwise, this is going to happen, people are going to rest and miss Test matches and miss representing your country to go and play for money,”
Shane Warne was quoted saying in Fox Cricket’s Podcast ‘Road to the Ashes’.
The Indian Premier League is arguably the biggest and the best T20 league in the world. There is absolutely no doubt that it helps players better themselves and give them an opportunity to play alongside and against the best of the players. However, in the recent past, some of the elite cricketers have been allowed to miss international fixtures to take part in the IPL.
The England Test cricketers were most recently allowed to stay back and miss the two-match Test series at home against New Zealand. South African cricketers flew down to India early and miss a part of the white-ball series against Pakistan at home.
Warne admitted that it is quite hard to decline the sort of money that the players get. By playing six weeks of cricket and staying away from your family, a player could earn millions, and that could be an easy decision to make, especially with respect to the money that is offered. However, Warne added that international cricket is the best place for a cricketer to test themselves.
“It’s pretty hard, you know if someone says, here’s three million bucks and play for a short term or go over somewhere and play for six weeks being away from your family, it’s a very easy decision to take that money.
But if you value yourself as a cricketer and want to test yourself against the best, there’s only one spot to do it and that’s international cricket, especially Test cricket,“
Warne added.
Seven popular names are missing from the Aussie squads for the tours of the West Indies and Bangladesh. Each of them took part in the IPL earlier this year before it got suspended in the first week of May. Since India is on Australia’s red-list, players couldn’t enter the country straight away and had to fly down to the Maldives for 10 days and then undergo 14 days of quarantine in Australia before reuniting with their respective families.
Three Australian cricketers (David Warner, Marcus Stoinis and Glenn Maxwell) have also pulled out of the ECB’s new league, The Hundred. However, with the IPL to resume in September, the question arises, whether these cricketers will fly to the UAE to represent their respective franchises. There is also the T20 World Cup that starts on the 17th of October.
