‘India runs cricket’: Chris Gayle claims IPL should not be interfered with

In the latest episode of the Spirit of Cricket podcast forDafaNews, West Indies veteran cricketer Chris Gayle said that international cricket should not overlap with the Indian Premier League (IPL).

Gayle has been a legendary player in the IPL and first started out on the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) team in 2009. He moved to the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in 2011 and proved instrumental for the team’s performance, eventually finishing his IPL journey with Punjab Kings in 2021.

Gayle said that the only team which benefits from players leaving mid-way through the IPL to play other international series’ is Team India.

“When the IPL is going on, you see players who have to leave the tournament to go play for their countries. If you have an IPL window [then] it should just be the IPL in that window,” Gayle said. “You shouldn’t have international cricket during that time frame because there’s only one team that’s going to benefit, and that’s India.”

Gayle instead suggested that the IPL should have a distinct time frame without any interference from international cricket. He said it’s “unfair” and “one-sided” to pull players out of a big franchise tournament like the IPL.

In the recent season of the IPL, English players had to skip the last leg of the championship due to the team’s T20 series against Pakistan held right before the ongoing T20 World Cup.

Gayle also claimed that players unionising and presenting their demands to the Board of Control for Cricket India (BCCI) would be pointless.

‘No one can speak to India’

“No one can speak to India. India runs cricket. You have to face reality; it’s facts. Who is going to talk to India? Who is going to challenge India? No one. They run cricket,” Gayle said.

Team India currently stands undefeated in the T20 World Cup 2024 and will face England in the semi-final on June 27.