‘Buttler, Curran Would be…’: Bopara on IPL Teams’ Owners Trying to Convince England Players to Quit International Cricket

Former England player Ravi Bopara has reacted to the reports of Indian Premier League franchises trying to convince the English players to quit international cricket with lucrative contracts as they want them to play franchise cricket throughout the years. A report in Times London suggested that six England players have been offered massive contracts in the range of 5 million pounds to the stars as the IPL franchise owners have now bought teams in other country’s T20 leagues including SA20, ILT20 and MLC T20.

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Bopara said that there was already a chat about the same and it was going to happen with the IPL franchise owners taking over charge in the other leagues too.

“This was coming. This has been a chat in county circuit and around cricket in general. This was always going to be happening, especially after IPL teams started acquiring teams world wide – in South African league and in the major league coming up in America. We have already seen them acquire teams in CPL, to recruit West Indian players coming through. That was the start,” Bopara said on BBC Test Match Special podcast.

Bopara suggested that players like Jos Buttler and Sam Curran are surely going to be part of the discussion from the IPL team owners as the two players have been performing consistently well in the IPL over the years.

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“I am not surprised at all by the development. I am sure Jos Butler, Sam Curran would be part of that discussion. Those two would definitely be part of discussion,” Bopara said.

While the original report from Times London didn’t mention which franchises are in the fray of offering multi-million contracts to the top England cricketers, there was no mention of which players are involved in the discussion, either.

The former England cricketer further pointed out why the England players might think about taking up the big contracts from the IPL team owners.

“It’s a real thing for players to think about as its big money. If they are seeing longer contracts say 3 year or 5 years, then it’s a serious issue for players to think about. If one of them is coming to an end of England career, then you are sort of thinking you have only 2-3 years left in England career, you might think this is better career for me,” Bopara said.

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