West Indies teams across the board might be performing way below par on the international scene, ranking ninth in Test cricket and One-Day Internationals and seventh in Twenty20 cricket. But individually players from the region are still being highly sought after by global franchise owners.
A total of 17 West Indies cricketers have received lucrative contracts to ply their trade in the Indian Premier League (IPL). The two-day auction for the richest global tournament concluded yesteday in Bengaluru. West Indians make up the largest group of foreign players recruited in the IPL with the different franchises forking out a total of US$$10.855 million for their services
Former Barbados and England cricketer Roland Butcher said he hopes that the Caribbean players would grasp the opportunity with both hands given the fact that the IPL can be unforgiving when the performances do not match the earnings.
“I am very pleased that so many people got contracts. I really hope that they perform to make sure that they can get future contracts because places like the IPL are fairly unforgiving. If you don’t perform you will lose that contract so it is important for all of them to realize that to whom much is given, much is expected, so they will have to go and perform.
“Not because you got a million dollar contract means you will get a million dollars because if you don’t play at all then you get very little. So, it is alright having a million dollar contract but you have to go get in the team so you get paid, because you get paid when you play. So while the contract is worth that much if you don’t get in the team then you get very little of that,” Butcher told Barbados TODAY.
Out of the 17 players three were retained from last year by their respective franchises – Kieron Pollard, Sunil Narine and Andre Russell, while the other 14 are Dwayne Bravo, Nicholas Pooran, Jason Holder, Shimron Hetmyer, Romario Shepherd, Odean Smith, Rovman Powell, Dominic Drakes, Alzarri Joseph, Sherfane Rutherford, Fabian Allen, Obed McCoy, Evin Lewis and Kyle Mayers.
Butcher said he was surprised but delighted for people like Shimron Hetmyer who is not in the West Indies setup presently but still got a hefty contract. “I am very pleased for Pooran (Nicholas) and Hetmyer. I really hope they appreciate it and don’t mess up the situation because some people would say they are quite fortunate to get contracts, so I am really hoping they can justify what they are receiving.”
He shared a word of advice to the players especially the young ones like Dominic Drakes. “The first thing they have to do is go there and train well, work hard, do everything the people want them to do and try to hopefully get the opportunity to play because that is the only way you can actually get decent contracts by playing. The likes of Drakes would probably be make-up players to start with but if they get the chance I hope they can take the opportunity which would help to improve their craft going forward. It is good for them to get a foot in and they need this opportunity to show what they can do.”
West Indies are scheduled to play India in the first of three matches starting Wednesday in Kolkata and Butcher urged the men in maroon to put some effort into their batting.
“In the T20 they would have a better chance of beating India than in the 50 overs… But it still is not going to be easy because India are a good T20 side as well so it could be quite competitive. I really hope that they can bat well because our batting has been letting us down of late and really we need to come to the party with the bat to have a chance of winning the series. India at home are very tough and we are going to have to play our best cricket to stay in the game. The batting has been a problem for a long time, everybody is aware of our short comings, it is a question of how are we going to sort those short comings out,” Butcher explained. morissalindsay@barbadostoday.bb
List of players, franchises & earnings:
Andre Russell (Kolkata Knight Riders) – US$1.6 million
Nicholas Pooran (Sunrisers Hyderabad) – US$1.433 million
Jason Holder (Lucknow Super Giants) – US$1.166 million
Shimron Hetmyer (Rajasthan Royals) – US$1.133 million
Romario Shepherd (Sunrisers Hyderabad) – US$1.033 million
Kieron Pollard (Mumbai Indians) – US$800,000
Sunil Narine (Kolkata Knight Riders) – US$800,000
Odean Smith (Punjab Kings) – US$800,000
Dwayne Bravo (Chennai Super Kings) – US$586,000
Rovman Powell (Delhi Capitals) – US$373,000
Alzarri Joseph (Gujarat Titans) – US$320,000
Evin Lewis (Lucknow Super Giants) – US$266,000
Dominic Drakes (Gujarat Titans) – US$146,000
Sherfane Rutherford (Punjab Kings) – US$133,000
Fabian Allen (Mumbai Indian) – US$100,000
Obed McCoy (Rajasthan Royals) – US$100,000
Kyle Mayers (Lucknow Super Giants) – US$66,000
