Windies caught in CLT20 tussle
In another tug of war for players in the Champions League Twenty20, Trinidad and Tobago's Sunil Narine, Dwayne Bravo and Kieron Pollard find themselves in an awkward situation, having to choose between club and country. Sanjjeev K Samyal reports.
In another tug of war for players in the Champions League Twenty20, Trinidad and Tobago's Sunil Narine, Dwayne Bravo and Kieron Pollard find themselves in an awkward situation, having to choose between club and country.
Narine, Bravo and Pollard play for Kolkata Knight Riders, Chennai Super Kings and Mumbai Indians respectively in the Indian Premier League. The three teams as well as their home side, T&T are in the CLT20, to be played in South Africa in October.
Their IPL teams are keen to have their services for the CLT20. However, in the provisional lists of 20 players submitted to the organising committee, they are listed in their IPL squads as well as for T&T. The deadline for submitting the final list of 15 is Sept 10.
Last year, Pollard and Bravo played for MI and CSK, and T&T got compensations of $150,000 for each player. This time, the players are in a fix after Trinidad's Minister of Sport, Anil Roberts, said in July that Narine, Bravo and Pollard would all play for their country. "In our provisional list, we have the names of all the three players," T&T Board's CEO, Suruj Raghoonath told HT.
However, the final decision will rest on the player. The CLT20 board rules state that if the player wants to turn out for the IPL team, then the franchisee gets his release by paying $150,000 to his home team.
The IPL teams can apply for release to the T&T board or the West Indies Cricket Board. It is learnt the three IPL teams have submitted requests to the WICB.
Narine, with 24 wickets, was the second highest wicket-taker in this year's IPL, playing a starring role in KKR's triumph. CSK's Bravo scored 371 runs and claimed 15 wickets while MI's Pollard scored 220 runs and took 16 wickets.
The IPL team officials are confident of getting their players while the Trinidad board was cautious. It remains to be seen where these names will be in the final list.
