espncricinfo contracts for replacement players only include a year's participation, on the premise that the injured player will be available the following season. New replacement players without three-year contracts - Gayle, for example - must go into an auction where all the franchises would be able to bid for them. Gayle's explosive performances with the bat - he was IPL2011's leading run scorer, and had a strike rate of 183.13 - are expected to trigger a bidding war should he be put into an auction.
Mallya, however, said the Bangalore franchise had been in touch with IPL management about the possibility of keeping Gayle, but would only know for certain after the Champions League Twenty20 in September whether they can hang on to him. The IPL, Mallya said, won't give out the guidelines until the Champions League is up. (Sundar Raman, the IPL's chief executive, did not respond to an email asking if the league was considering new guidelines).
Gayle, in 2011, also helped Bangalore's fans come to terms with the departures of Rahul Dravid and Ross Taylor, two favourites who were not retained by the franchise. "There was a lot of backlash but there was [also] a lot of backlash when Shah Rukh Khan didn't keep Sourav Ganguly," Mallya said. "Ross Taylor was a big favourite for Bangalore. The crowd loved him and we thought that would have an effect but when you have players like Chris Gayle and [AB] de Villiers, it was easy for the fans to get over that and they have taken to the new side very well."
No comments:
Post a Comment