Gayle: India run cricket, players have no power right now

|| CF DESK ||

West Indies legend Chris Gayle pointed out the dominance of India and BCCI in world cricket, stating that it is impossible for players to challenge them due to their power.

In a show on DafaNews’ Spirit of Cricket podcast, the Universe Boss discussed the one-sided nature of the current system, where contracted players are told what to do and where to play.

“No one can speak to India. India run cricket. You have to face reality, it’s facts. Who is going to talk to India? Who is going to challenge India? No one. They run cricket. It’s not as simple as players saying, ‘Hey, we’re gonna form a union and stamp our authority’. You have the Players Association, but I’m not sure if they can do anything at all,” Gayle said, speaking in the ‘Spirit of Cricket’ podcast.

Gayle said that the only team which benefits from players leaving mid-way through the IPL to play other international series’ is Team India.

“It’s always going to be a win-win situation [for India]. They worship the game in India. The TV rights, everything depends on India. India is the place. You have to call a spade a spade. India is the place.”

The veteran cricketer also said that international cricket should not overlap with the Indian Premier League (IPL).

“When the IPL is going on, you see players who have to leave the tournament to go play for their countries. If you have an IPL window [then] it should just be the IPL in that window. You shouldn’t have international cricket during that time frame, because there’s only one team that’s going to benefit, and that's India. That’s unfair. You cannot have a system like that,”

“If it’s a World Cup window, then it’s just that, nothing else. Same for the IPL. If you want the best players in the world to be playing in the IPL, the biggest franchise in history, then you have to allow them to play in that particular window without interference like international cricket. You cannot pull players out of such a big franchise tournament, because it’s unfair and too one-sided, ” he added.