Kieron Pollard has announced his retirement from international cricket. However, he is available for all the franchises worldwide. He will continue to play in the IPL, BBL and various other leagues throughout the year. It means that he hasn’t retired in the true sense of the word. On the otherhand, what Chahal has revealed is quite disturbing. I would like to pass by views about these events in Pollard’s retirement and Chahal’s revelation.
Pollard’s retirement
“After careful deliberation, I’ve today decided to retire from international cricket,” Pollard wrote on Instagram. “As is the case of many young persons, it was a dream of mine to represent the West Indies team from the time I was a boy of 10 years and I’m proud to have represented West Indies cricket for over 15 years in both the T20I and ODI forms of the game.”
Kieron Pollard is a legend but not in the true sense of the word. He is a legend in the franchise world but at the international level, he is a nobody. He just like his team members, Gayle, Bravo and the rest just played the game for the money that is involved. I am being quite blunt here. There is a reason for this. I do agree that the West Indian players are paid much less than players from other countries. Sometimes, they are not paid at all or the payment is very much delayed. The West Indian players and the West Indian board have often been at loggerheads over pay. It was a lengthy struggle. All of these are accepted but Pollard did not think much about playing for West Indies.
For him, the various leagues around the world became much more important than representing West Indies. This at a time when the island team were struggling to find resources to man their playing eleven. West Indies cricket hit the absolute nadir and yet, these players like Pollard found it demeaning to represent them. Just compare the number of games he has played for Mumbai Indians versus the number of games he played for West Indies. The picture will be clear.
West Indies were struggling
I do agree that money is important. Afterall, the life of a cricketer is short and they know absolutely nothing apart from the game and that they have to make the most of their playing career. However, there is a limit. I am not against players opting to play for various leagues but it must not come at the cost of playing for your nation. Especially a nation that was struggling to pit 11 decent cricketers against their opponents. The IPL is reasonably placed. It happens prior to the West Indies season and when all other nations have their traditional break except for England. It is alright to play in the IPL or for a short time, the Big Bash League but players like Pollard make it a point to go around the world to represent various franchise teams in various leagues.
He was made the captain, atleast in T20, when he finally chose to represent West Indies. It has proven to be short lived. Clive Lloyd, during his time as the West Indian board chairman, made is clear that anyone who places the interests of the leagues above that of West Indian cricket will not be selected to play for the island again. Ofcourse, he absolutely stopped the players from playing any league which wasn’t correct because there is money to be made and the players cannot be faulted for that. However, to consider league cricket to be of paramount importance rather than to represent the country is not correct either.
The fault is on both the sides
There must have been a balance. The WICB must be faulted but Pollard is not a saint either. The classic case of the much talented Andre Russell who informed the WICB that the demands of international cricket is too heavy for him and that he will not play for West Indies ever but he does not mind playing day in and day out in IPL, BBL, The Hundred, South African league and others.
The bottom line is that I for one do not feel sad that Pollard has retired so must anyone else who value international cricket above the slam bang variety.
Chahal’s revelation
Yuzvendra Chahal, the legspinner has revealed rather some dark behaviour of his fellow players. He underwent some serious physical harassment.
“We had a match in Bengaluru and there was a get-together after that. So there was a player who was very drunk – and I won’t take his name – he was very drunk, he just called me aside, and he took me outside and he hung me out from the balcony.
Earlier in a video released by RCB, he revealed that his teammates James Franklin and Andrew Symonds “had tied him up, taped his mouth, left him in a room and forgot about him for a whole night.”
They forgot about Chahal for the whole night and room keepers released him the next morning. Now, cricket is a long game. Team members spend way too much time with each other over multiple series, hotels, flights etc. They are bound to have fun amongst themselves but this is taking it to the extreme. In the first instance, Chahal could have lost his life. The said player was drunk and a slight slip would have meant Chahal could have easily fallen 15 floors down. It would not have been an accident but a cold-blooded murder.
In the 2nd instance, just because he is little and thin, he too is a human and deserve some respect. Symonds and Franklin must have done what they did in the first place but having done that, they must have had the courtesy to release him soon.
These are not pranks. These are infact, attacks.
Conclusion to Pollard’s retirement and Chahal’s revelation
Anyone who gives much more importance to franchise cricket than to his country does not deserve sympathy. As for Chahal, action must be taken against the concerned players.