Pollard, Narine And Bravo Might Not Turn Up For Their IPL Teams

Anil Roberts, the Trinidad and Tobago Sports Minister could have stirred up a hornet's nest, when he said that Kieron Pollard, Sunil Narine and Dwayne Bravo will represent their country T20 side and not their IPL franchisees during the Champions League in October. As has been witnessed in the previous editions, players have chosen to play for their IPL sides mostly because of monetary reasons.

The BCCI and the IPL teams who exert the maximum clout are expected to not take things lying down and raise objections. The minister says that an agreement has been reached with the three players who themselves want to represent their country, and in turn the government of T&T will match the fees doled out by the franchisees. The KKR team director Joy Bhattacharya however said that Sunil Narine would turn up for them in the CLT20.

The T&T minister said that he had spoken to the franchisees and raised some pertinent points. "I explained to them, because some of them are quite upset. I said, 'please for a moment, just picture Mahendra Singh Dhoni or Sachin Tendulkar or Raina deciding or contemplating to play for a club ahead of India. I don't think that would even be a choice. I don't think they would even be able to set foot in their land of their birth if ever they even consider disappointing their countrymen and their country by playing for club for money'. So while they may be upset, I tell them I am very sorry they are upset, but the population wants our best players, the government wants our best players. The players want to play for Trinidad & Tobago and they will play for Trinidad & Tobago."

If the minister fails to have his way, Kieron Pollard would turn out for the Mumbai Indians, Dwayne Bravo would be playing for the Chennai Super Kings, and Sunil Narine the player of the tournament at IPL 2012, would represent the Kolkata Knight Riders.