Legendary Indian cricketer Sunil Gavaskar has once again stirred up the debate around overseas players’ availability in the ongoing edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL). Several foreign players are yet to join their respective teams this season for different reasons and Gavaskar is not pleased at all with the current situation.
Mitchell Starc of the Delhi Capitals is recovering from an injury, even as Cricket Australia is also managing his workload ahead of the hectic international cricket schedule from August 2026. On the other hand, the likes of Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood have joined their teams but are yet to regain full fitness. Neither player has featured yet in IPL 2026.
To add to the frustration of the franchises, even Sri Lanka Cricket has not provided NoCs to its players, stating that they have not cleared fitness tests. Players like Wanindu Hasaranga, Eshaan Malinga and Matheesha Pathirana are yet to join their IPL teams, with even Malinga going to the extent of registering a court case against SLC over the matter, while Hasaranga and Pathirana are injured.
Sunil Gavaskar highlights Cameron Green issue
The major controversy is around Cameron Green who has been told by Cricket Australia to play only as a batter in IPL 2026. He was picked up by the Kolkata Knight Riders for a whopping amount of Rs 25.2 crore and he had then declared that he would play as an all-rounder. The matter blew up when KKR skipper Ajinkya Rahane took a dig at Cricket Australia after Kolkata lost to Mumbai Indians in their opening game with the Aussie cricket board stating that it had informed the KKR franchise about the same before.
“To suggest that the franchise was ‘informed before’ is not a great excuse. And ‘informed before’ is how much before the opening day of the tournament? Playing for the country is paramount and comes before franchise cricket, but don’t the franchises-who open not just their wallets but also their hearts to players and often their families-deserve full commitment?
“It is also worth remembering that a bowler can bowl only four overs in a match. If they have bowled a similar number of deliveries in practice without issue, what is stopping them from doing so in the game? As a bowler, you are expected to bowl 56 overs across 14 league games over two months and, if your team reaches the final, perhaps another two or three games and 12 more overs.
“C’mon, for a generation that keeps talking about how fit they are, that’s no load at all. Four overs in a match-and not even in one stretch-is too much for the body? Man, if the body is that fragile, then it’s best to give it two more months’ rest, isn’t it?” Gavaskar wrote in his column for Sportstar.
Further in the column, he also noted that the foreign boards receive 10% of the fee from each player’s IPL salary, while also stating that such provision is not there in any other T20 league in the world. “The IPL has been a cash cow not just for overseas players but for their Boards too. Does the average Indian fan know that Cricket Boards get 10% of the fee a player from their country is bought for? It is not clear whether the BCCI or the franchise pays this commission for issuing the No Objection Certificate.
“No other T20 league in the world pays a single dime to the Boards of overseas players. Not even The Hundred. Since four out of six teams [in other global leagues] have Indian owners, why not milk the cash cow?” Gavaskar further wrote.
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