What's the story?
A new pay deal between the English cricketers and the England and Wales Cricket Board will now allow the players to keep a larger share of their IPL earnings. The director of the England team, Andrew Strauss has confirmed a deal which will demand lesser pay back from the central contracts of the players for the days they spend in India as a part of the IPL.
This issue had threatened to cause a rift between the board and the players.
“What I'm focused on is making sure that relationships between ourselves as the national governing body and our players who are contracted to us are as good as they possibly can be. That's the best way of ensuring that those conversations happen in good faith,” said Strauss talking about the negotiations.
In case you didn't know...
In the current agreement, the players had to part with 0.5 percent of their annual salary for each day they stayed in India. Ben Stokes had to let go of €75,000 from his ECB contract and his IPL fee of €1.7m might have made the act a little facile. However, this deal has many complications which is why the newly introduced system will make things easier for both the parties.
The heart of the matter
As per the new deal, the players will now have to pay back one day's salary for each day they spend in the IPL. This clause will simplify the process and the players can dish out smaller slices of their IPL wages. This step was taken to ensure a mutually agreeable system of payback.
What's next?
With this deal on the table, next year's IPL will encourage the participation of more English players. Since Rajasthan Royals and Chennai Super Kings will make a comeback in IPL-2018, the demand for talented English players is sure to rise.
Moreover, if England continue to impress in the limited overs formats like they have done of late, Englishmen will undoubtedly be in high demand during the next IPL auction.
Author's Take
Despite the responsibility the players owe to the National Cricketing Board and their respective franchise, tensions in monetary deals are capable of souring the relationships between the two parties. It is important to have mutually agreeable deals because bitterness between the management and the players could directly impact performance.
Hence, the need of the hour is that deals such as the one in question are given a serious thought. England definitely encourage their players to be a part of the IPL and this step will help in bringing other young English players into the limelight.
