Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar came down heavily on players who choose to make themselves available for only a limited portion of the Indian Premier League (IPL) season.
Sunil Gavaskar criticises partial IPL availability
Gavaskar was uncompromising in his opinion, writing in his column for Mid-Day that any player failing to show respect to the league by committing to its full duration should not be considered for the auction at all. He emphasised that if any commitment, other than a national duty, takes precedence over the IPL, then "not one second of the auction should be wasted on him," asserting that the IPL is the world's best T20 league and should not be taken lightly.
“There are some players who have made themselves available for a limited period. Frankly, if a player doesn’t show respect to the IPL and make himself available for the full tournament, he shouldn’t even be in the auction,” Gavaskar's column read.
“If something other than a national commitment is more important to him, then not one second of the auction should be wasted on him. The IPL is the best T20 league in the world, and anybody taking it lightly should not be considered at all,” he added.
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Josh Inglis confirms limited availability for IPL 2026
This issue of limited availability was recently highlighted by the situation involving Australian wicketkeeper-batter Josh Inglis. Inglis reportedly confirmed that his availability for the upcoming IPL season would be restricted due to his wedding commitments.
“Look at the initial price at which all those who went on to become great players for India were bought. They were all bought at their base prices and were thus hungry to perform and earn more. Now look at all the uncapped players bought for crores and see where they are now. Maybe there’s a lesson in that somewhere".
“There is still no salary limit on an uncapped player, and so many young, fairly unknown players will be bought for sums, for playing just 16 days of cricket, that are multiple times higher than what a Ranji Trophy player earns while playing twice as many days, mostly in empty stadiums. The sad part is that most, if not all, of these youngsters bought for huge sums hardly play in the tournament and are lost to the game after a season or two,” Gavaskar concluded.