Mumbai: Remember Pawan Negi, the left-arm orthodox spinner who could pack a punch with the bat? Best remembered as Delhi Capitals’ million-dollar buy at the 2016 IPL player auction, Negi made a solitary T20I appearance for India. Picked for India’s 2016 T20 World Cup squad, he never got a game.
If Negi, 31, chose to come out of retirement, he would qualify as an uncapped player, like MS Dhoni, under the revised IPL auction rule. Instead, he has discovered greener pastures elsewhere.
Currently in Srinagar, the all-rounder from Delhi is competing in Legends League Cricket (LLC). Earlier in July, Negi was in Birmingham at the World Championship of legends. He’s also been picked up in the drafts of US Masters T20’s season 2 that begins on November 8.
The newly launched International Masters League (IML) will begin on November 17, and it won’t be a surprise if Negi finds takers there too. The veterans league circuit is now a segment of its own and players like Negi, who can still power the cricket ball out of the park, are in high demand.
There are the stars too — Shikhar Dhawan, Dinesh Karthik, the Pathan brothers, Ambati Rayudi, Robin Uthappa, Mohammed Kaif, Ross Taylor and more but the focus is not on the big names. Rather, they want to put on a show. They want to entertain.
Like Negi, Barinder Sran, 31, wants to embrace this alternate career route too. The left-arm pacer made his India ODI debut in 2016 under MS Dhoni and counts Steve Smith and Dave Warner among his scalps. He represented four franchises in the IPL, but never Delhi Capitals.
In LLC, he will turn out for Capitals’ co-owners’ team India Capitals. Having announced his international and IPL retirement this year, Sran is a free agent in cricket’s new blooming market of those not-so-young.
Beaten Path
The idea of a league for retired cricketers is not new. Back in 1995, a six-nation Masters Cup was staged in Mumbai’s Brabourne stadium. Some of the game’s most famous names including South African legends Barry Richards and Graeme Pollock, lost to apartheid, put on a show.
Played in the pre-T20 era, ODI action spanning 100 overs, left most of them with aching pain. ‘The body screamed out more than the fans,’ wrote England’s Derek Pringle. The final, between India and West Indies, was played to a houseful stadium but there was never a second edition.
Later in 2015-16, on-field pals Sachin Tendulkar and Shane Warne joined hands for a similar venture under the All-Stars banner. The economics did not add up and their friendship took a hit.
It’s only LLC, run by businessmen and cricket enthusiasts Vivek Khushalani and Raman Raheja; now into its the third year that has picked up some momentum. Targeting smaller cities and offshore venues, these leagues attempt to quench the appetite of those who are starved to watch big cricket.
“The key requirement is that cricket should be competitive,” said Raheja. “It should not be fun and games between old men on the park. When you have too many players over the hill and squads with lopsided strengths, that’s when it becomes exhibition cricket.”
Raheja’s venture too is driven by stars, but LLC have learnt their lessons well. They are focused on recently retired players. These players come at a premium, with enough and more opportunities coming from coaching or media work with the proliferation of franchise cricket, globally.
Shikhar Dhawan, Dinesh Karthik, Harbhajan Singh, Suresh Raina, Irfan Pathan are among those categorised as the ‘Icon players’ who are known to command ₹3-4 crore annually from LLC. They now run two leagues in a year. In India colours, all of them were high performers, but not absolute A listers. On the veteran circuit, their superior fitness makes them sought after.
LLC sets aside as many as ₹80 crore for player salaries, ₹48 crores come from the six franchises who run with a $1 million salary cap, for balance of squads on IPL lines.
Mohammed Kaif, who is sprightly even at 43, competes in a number of these veteran leagues. Those like Kaif who play in multiple veterans leagues make more now than they did in the inaugural IPL season. Over the hill, says who?
More leagues, more money
“I am not afraid if they play elsewhere,” said Raheja. “My agenda was not to create an Intellectual Property for myself but create a category of legends, so that I can keep them playing 3-4 times a year.”
Exclusivity is impractical on the veteran’s circuit. In fact, experts believe the retirement leagues are benefiting from Board of Control for Cricket in India’s prohibitory orders that don’t allow active Indian cricketers to compete in T20 leagues other than IPL.
Some of these matches featuring cricketers of the previous era garner more television eyeballs in the India than approved leagues like SA20 and ILT20, where the best of non-Indian T20 talent compete.
“A lot of my friends came up to me and said we have watched you play, but we wish our children would have got that chance. This is an opportunity for not only people of our generation but those of the next generation to connect with us,” Sachin Tendulkar said in his capacity as IML brand ambassador and team captain of the Indian side.
It’s when the generation gap widens, do some of these matches cease to be a contest. “You have to deal with it (as senior players). If you can’t, there is the exit door,” said Brian Lara, West Indies captain in IML.
As everyone will tell you, it’s serious business in more than one way. Perhaps, that makes it fun too.
