Reports | IPL franchises unhappy with introduction of All-Star Game
IPL Franchises are reportedly unhappy with the introduction of the All-Star game, with them fearing that it would increase injury risk and give teams less time to settle ahead of the tournament. Sourav Ganguy, last month, revealed that an All-Star game would be played a few days prior to the IPL.
BCCI President Sourav Ganguly, in January, announced that the 2020 edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) will be seeing a first-of-its-kind All-Star game, with the match set to feature a plethora of national and international stars picked from all eight franchises in the competition. Ganguly revealed that the All-Star game would be held a few days prior to the commencement of the actual tournament and further stated that the money raised in the one-off exhibition match would be going to a charity that was yet to be decided.
However, Franchises are apparently said to be unhappy with the timing of the match - that was speculated to be three days prior to the commencement of IPL 2020 - with them fearing that it could pave way for players to pick up unnecessary injuries ahead of the tournament. Moreover, the franchise owners also believe that the game would mar pre-tournament preparations, as it would mean that players - especially overseas players - would have less time to gel with the other players.
“Sharing a player just days or a week before the start of the IPL doesn’t make sense. There are injury risks involved,” a member of an unnamed franchise told TOI.
“A player will have to miss out on team bonding exercises and travel that much more. There’s only that much time that players — who arrive from all over the world — get to bond with each other before the start of the tournament. It doesn’t make sense.”
On top of injury concerns and team bonding, Franchises are also set to be unhappy with the commercial aspect of the exhibition game. Whilst it's unclear what jerseys the All-Star teams will be wearing, a franchise owner stated that he ‘would not be okay’ if players sport a jersey other than their official team jersey.
“Commercially, we are not okay if players don’t wear our jersey (regardless of an All-Star game),” said a franchise owner.
Despite the speculation, the All-Star game is yet to be finalized officially and an official date for the match is yet to be decided.
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