KARACHI: Former Australian cricketer Shane Warne thinks that players who prefer playing in the Indian Premier League (IPL) instead of their national team must not be picked for international cricket.
Speaking to the Road to Ashes podcast, Warne shared his concerns over players’ increasing interest in franchise cricket.
“If players want to make money, let them. But if you want to play cricket for your country and (still) you choose to play the IPL over your country, then maybe it’s not worth picking those guys,” he stated.
“Otherwise, this is going to happen, people are going to rest and miss Test matches and miss representing your country to go and play for money,” the former cricketer coined.
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Warne said franchises offer handsome money but a player’s real test is international cricket, especially Test cricket.
“It’s pretty hard, you know if, someone says here’s three million bucks and play for a short term or go over somewhere and play for six weeks being away from your family, it’s a very easy decision to take that money. But if you value yourself as a cricketer and want to test yourself against the best, there’s only one spot to do it and that’s international cricket, especially Test cricket,” he highlighted.
It must be noted here that recently South African players missed all-important white-ball series against Pakistan to play IPL in India. The issue was raised highly among the cricket fraternity and Cricket South Africa (CSA) alongside cricketers was criticized for preferring money over national duty.
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