AHMEDABAD: It’s a do-or-die clash for them and they want to be at full strength to negotiate any challenges. Unfortunately, they cannot. Rajasthan Royals and Royal Challengers Bengaluru are bound to miss their top English batters, especially knowing a loss on Wednesday can end their campaign in the ongoing Indian Premier League.
Not that the third team in the playoffs – Kolkata Knight Riders – will not miss the services of its opener – Phil Salt. The explosive opener was pivotal in providing explosive starts to the team almost every time this season with West Indian Sunil Narine to his company. They, however, can have yet another go at a place in the final even if they lose Qualifier 1 against Sunrisers Hyderabad, who fortunately don’t have an English player in their ranks.
Among the two teams slated to feature in the Eliminator on Wednesday at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, Rajasthan will be hit the most. Their opener, Jos Buttler, will be missed badly when they take the field against RCB, who seem to be on the roll.
The England captain might not have taken the tournament by storm given his tall standards but he was irreplaceable in the RR scheme of things. His twin unbeaten centuries against Kolkata and Bengaluru powered the team to commendable victories. In fact, the inaugural champions were formidable at the start winning eight of the first nine matches only losing the fifth contest against Gujarat Titans. The rampaging show meant they were at top of the table for weeks. But they slided from the numero uno position as they went on to lose next four games and with their last match against Kolkata ending in no result, they ended the league stage at third position on the points table.
Buttler’s absence was not the reason for change in fortunes. He was there in the team in the first three losses only to leave before an encounter against Punjab Kings, which RR lost. His compatriot Tom Kohler-Cadmore replaced him at the top in the match and scored 18 off 23 balls before being named in the playing XI for the washed out KKR tie. Like Rajasthan, Faf du Plessis-led RCB too will miss the services of English all-rounder Will Jacks but his absence is likely to have a lesser impact. It was Jacks, who slammed an unbeaten hundred as RCB chased down a 201-run target against Gujarat. He was the key against KKR as well scoring 32-ball 55 even as the team fell short by the barest of margin while chasing 223 for a win.
The Bengaluru outfit, however, managed to make up with his absence scripting an epic comeback to stay in contention for the elusive IPL title. To begin with, they won just one of their first eight matches but registered six straight victories to make it to the playoffs edging past the five-time champions Chennai Super Kings. Pacer Reece Topley, who has taken four wickets from as many matches, is another English player in the RCB squad but he was not a regular part of the team.
Former players including Sunil Gavaskar, Wasim Akram and Irfan Pathan minced no words in slamming England Cricket Board’s decision of withdrawing their players from the IPL. Gavaskar, in his column on an English daily, even suggested financial penalties on the contracted players and the ECB. “The franchises should not only be allowed to deduct a substantial amount from the fee that the player was bought for, but also not give the board, to which the player belongs, the stated 10 per cent commission of the fee that each player gets,” he has emphasised in his column. “Either be available for full season or don’t come,” former India all-rounder Pathan said on his X handle.
While it’s not known if the England players had listen ‘any periods of unavailability on their auction applications’, the England Cricket Board, according to ESPNCricinfo, had informed the league in December itself that ‘its players will be available for the whole season subject to fitness and international duty and any periods of unavailability that players submitted on their auction applications’. The report also mentioned that if any players need any specific management ‘in the build-up to the World Cup’, Rob Key, the body’s managing director, would deal directly with the players and franchise in question.
England are scheduled to play four-match T20I series against visiting Pakistan with the first contest scheduled for Wednesday in Leeds in the lead-up to the T20 World Cup in the USA and West Indies. The pull out by the English players has once again reignited the country vs club debate. Sanju Samson and Co have already bore its brunt and the same will again come to the fore when they play RCB in their bid to keep their title hopes alive.