Do IPL franchise owners influence selection of the Indian team?

Do IPL franchise owners influence selection of the Indian team?

While the IPL has given Indian cricket superstars, it has also been a tournament that has attracted a lot of controversies. Over the years, there has been Chinese whispers that franchisee owners lobby the selection of their players into the national side but no owner publicly displayed his emotion on his player’s non-selection.

Finally, last week the Delhi Capital co-owner publicly went on record demanding the selection of Ashwin and Pant into the playing XI after India got walloped by New Zealand in the ODI series. Yes the IPL is a valuation game. The players are the assets and if the franchisee has Indian players obviously they have a better sales pitch to sponsors and can extract better sponsorship price.

One is tempted to dive and explore if there is a nexus between the IPL franchisee that is led by the Indian captain and the selection of the Indian team. We all understand that captains play a significant role in team selection. So it’s within his purview to select players of his choice. And if the selection panel is not strong in their opinions and decisions, the captain can paint the canvas with the colours of his choice.

Three captains who have been at the helm of Indian cricket post the launch of IPL has been Dhoni, Kohli and Rohit Sharma. Did CSK players benefit when Dhoni was the captain? Did any player get an opportunity that was either out of turn or nonmeritorious? There were quite a good representation of CSK players in the Indian squad – Dhoni, Raina, Jadeja, Mohit Sharma, Vijay, Ashwin, Badrinath, Karan Sharma, etc.

When the reins of Indian cricket shifted from MSD to Virat Kohli then RCB had their players donning the Indian colours. This season the Indian squad had Virat, Shivam Dube, Washington Sundar, Navdeep Saini, Chahal. Despite some of them not performing to expected levels the opportunities never stopped being presented to them. So when the DC co-owner made the public statement that his players are better and should be included in the Indian team, was he indicating that there were players who were selected purely because they played for a particular franchisee?

Honestly Dube and Sundar were the sore thumbs in the team. I am sure most of you will agree that Dube should not be sent at No.3 as a pinch hitter. So that leaves him with the finisher’s role. Dube is a big and strong lad and can swing the bat but in a tight situation will he connect regularly or will he miss more than he hits? Seeing his short International career I’d like to believe that he needs to cut his teeth for a few seasons in the domestic circuit before staking claim in the national team.

Ashwin is definitely a better bowler than Sundar and a much more valuable player. Look at the price tag of both the players in the IPL and nobody can dispute my argument. Ashwin was bought this year by DC for Rs. 7.1 crs. Sundar was bought by RCB for 3.2 crs in 2018 and retained him at the same price. While Sundar has a reputation of being a good lower-order batsman, unfortunately he has not set the stage on fire with the willow. Needless to say Ashwin is no mug with the bat.

Krunal Pandya is another interesting case. He made it to the national team on the basis of a couple of good performances for MI. Let’s ask ourselves a question. Would he have made it to the Indian team on his average IPL performance had he played for RR or Kings XI? Your guess is as good as mine.

RCB has never won the title yet have a significant number of players in the Indian squad. Whether there is pressure by the franchisee on Virat to pick players is a topic of debate. While as a true cricket fan, I’d like to believe that team selection is based purely on merit and nothing else, it does not entirely convince me that merit supersedes everything else.

Mahesh Kutty

Avid cricket fan. Nothing gives him a better high than talking and writing about cricket. Have done more than 70 shows analyzing and reporting the game on HW YouTube channel. Always receptive to feedback and suggestions.

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