The Indian Premier League (IPL) play-off picture will be decided only on Sunday afternoon, when Rising Pune Supergiant take on Kings XI Punjab in the penultimate game of the league phase.
Three teams — Royal Challengers Bangalore, Gujarat Lions and Delhi Daredevils — fell by the wayside fairly early, but Punjab’s late surge has kept interest alive and calculators busy heading into the final round of matches.
But events on the field have been overshadowed in recent days by news emanating from Australia that the cricket board plans to offer five marquee players bumper contracts to ensure their non-participation in the IPL for the next three seasons.
On Thursday, the Sydney Morning Herald published an article that claimed that Steve Smith, David Warner, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins had all been sent feelers by Cricket Australia (CA).
Currently, Cricket Australia contracts are given on an annual basis, and the board and players are at loggerheads on what structure they will have in the coming years.
Warner captains Sunrisers Hyderabad, who won the IPL in 2016, and is the leading scorer in this year’s competition. Smith has led Pune back into the qualifying places after a dreadful start to the season.
Cummins has been one of the stars of an otherwise disappointing Delhi campaign. Starc withdrew from the Bangalore squad this season, while Hazlewood has yet to play the IPL.
The reaction, from both Indian cricket authorities and fans, has been an angry one. No official would speak on record about the news, but those with an opinion clearly viewed this as yet another step in what they see as “back-stabbing” by Cricket Australia.
The Australian board made millions of dollars from being a partner in the now-defunct Champions League, and was an enthusiastic backer of India’s Big Three plans at the International Cricket Council.
Now, with the Big Three model dead and the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) seemingly isolated at the ICC, this latest move is seen as another unkind cut from a one-time ally.
But viewed away from the prism of nationalism, it really is nothing of the sort.
To begin with, Cricket Australia gains little by sabotaging the IPL. Over the years, the ten per cent that the players have to pay the board from their contracts has enriched their coffers by quite a few million. Secondly, CA’s own Twenty20 competition, the Big Bash, is thriving, with in-stadium crowds and the TV audience growing every year.
No, this move has far more to do with prioritising the national side. In the years before the IPL began, April and May represented the off-season for Australian (and Indian) players.
By playing the IPL, players who already have a full season of national duty under their belts — as Warner and Smith did this season — make themselves far more susceptible to injury, especially in conditions where conditions can be at times more than 40 degrees.
Cricket Australia is clearly looking at the summer of 2019, which includes both the World Cup and an Ashes tour of England.
Australia last won the Ashes away from home in 2001, nearly a generation ago, and have not even been able to keep the contest alive until the final Test on the last two occasions (2013 and 2015).
Winning the urn in England, no matter what happens on home soil this winter, is clearly a priority, as is retaining the World Cup won at home in 2015.
Matching the IPL pay packets will be the problem. With a huge auction due next spring and franchise purses likely to be nearly double, some of the contracts handed out may make the 145 million Rupees (Dh8.2m) Pune paid for Ben Stokes seem thrifty.
Warner, in particular, and Starc, if available, would be right at the front of the queue.
If Cricket Australia do want to keep the five away from the IPL, and the quasi-royalty status it gives them for six weeks, it may end up costing them a lot to do so.
Talking points
• The Indians are missing: Suresh Raina (440), Gautam Gambhir (433), Robin Uthappa (384) and Dinesh Karthik (361) are all in the top 10 of the IPL run-scoring charts. Not one of them is off to the Champions Trophy in the United Kingdom in June.
Of those in the 15-man squad, only Shikhar Dhawan (450) and Manish Pandey (363), who will be a batting reserve, have enjoyed good IPL seasons.
Players such as Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Yuvraj Singh, MS Dhoni and Ajinkya Rahane are mired in mid-table.
Hardik Pandya, with 225 runs off just 139 balls, has showcased his big-hitting prowess, but with just three weeks to go for the start of their title defence, India will hope that that old chestnut about form, especially bad, being temporary holds good.
• The Big Show v Box Office Ben: While dealing solely in cameos, Glenn Maxwell (highest score of 47) has amassed 310 runs at an incredible strike-rate of 176. Ben Stokes has scored six runs more, albeit slower, and taken 12 wickets for good measure.
Both men have been central to their sides’ climb up the table, and there may be only one winner on Sunday afternoon.
A win for Punjab takes them through. Subject to Hyderabad’s result on Saturday, a loss could end Pune’s season.
The last time Maxwell enjoyed an excellent IPL campaign (2014), Punjab went all the way to the final. With both franchises having won four of their last five, the Stokes-Maxwell contest could have a huge bearing on the play-offs.
• Not time to lose heart: The message from the selectors was loud and clear: Twenty20 form, however impressive, wouldn't be used as a guide for choosing an one-day international (ODI) squad.
Rishabh Pant, Sanju Samson and Nitish Rana, with the bat, and Jaidev Unadkat, Sandeep Sharma and Yuzvendra Chahal, with the ball, will have to bide their time before they find places in the Indian dressing room.
In a season where established Indian players have struggled horribly — no doubt the result of an elongated and enervating home season — the young guns have stepped up to highlight India’s enviable bench strength.
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