Picture Credit: Twitter
The owners of six IPL franchises recently acquired the bidding for South African T20 League. Reliance, RPSG, Sun TV, CSK, Royals Sports Group, and JSW Sports were six identified groups that recently made successful bids to acquire the rights of Cape Town, Durban, Gqeberha (formerly known as Port Elizabeth), Johannesburg, Paarl and Pretoria franchise respectively.
Taking inspiration from the Indian Premier League, Cricket South Africa is introducing its own T20 tournament and claimed it to be the second most lucrative franchise tournament in the world. Apart from CSA, Emirates Cricket is also joining the countries like Australia, India, Pakistan and West Indies to come up with their own T20 tournament. IPL franchises have already acquired rights to own and operate franchises in the upcoming UAE T20 league.
While IPL franchises have started spreading their wings by acquiring rights of teams in T20 leagues around the world, Gilchrist has warned the cricketing fraternity claiming the new trend will create the 'monopoly' of Indian franchises globally.
Adam Gilchrist's remark has come on the back of reports suggesting Australian batter David Warner might opt to play for the United Arab Emirates T20 league over the Big Bash League. While speaking on SEN's Whateley radio show, the wicket-keeping legend said that franchises should not force Warner or any other player to play in specific leagues.
"I am confident that there will be other players on the radar as well. These IPL franchises are creating their dominance in world cricket. It's getting dangerous as they already own the majority of teams in the number of tournaments in the world and soon they will enjoy their monopoly in these T20 tournaments," Adam Gilchrist said.
The World Cup-winning wicketkeeper batter also warned Cricket Australia to urgently take cognizance of the matter as other cricketers might follow the footsteps of David Warner. "If he rides off into the sunset and say 'Sorry Australian cricket, I am going to become a gun for hire for my Indian franchise team in various tournaments' you can't question him on that," added Adam Gilchrist.