Gavaskar's words came after RR's Sangakkara showing disappointment with Sam Curran for missing IPL, but playing T20 Blast.
Former India opener Sunil Gavaskar has called for the BCCI to penalize overseas players who deliberately feign injuries during the Indian Premier League (IPL) after not getting regular chances in playing XIs for their teams. He stated that it was time for foreign players to learn a lesson: that they cannot take the league for granted.
There were a few player availability problems throughout the IPL 2026 season, which ended with Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) winning the championship.
Head coach Kumar Sangakkara stated that the Rajasthan Royals were upset to watch Sam Curran participate in the Vitality T20 Blast after he withdrew from the IPL due to an injury. The Royals were eliminated from the league after losing to the Gujarat Titans in Qualifier 2.
Gavaskar stated, without mentioning any players, that foreign players who return home midway through the tournament should face severe penalties since it is unfair to the teams, who must then find a substitute.
“The BCCI’s ban for two years on those who enter the auction and, after being picked, then withdraw at the last moment, not for injury but brownie points with their local media, is another good move. They should also ban those who come to the IPL and, when they find they aren’t being picked regularly, feign an injury and return home and then play in their domestic cricket even while the IPL is still going on,” Gavaskar wrote in his column for Sportstar.
“Plenty of overseas players take the IPL for granted and sometimes, in connivance with their boards, make some excuse and not play in the full tournament as they agreed before they entered the auction. The franchise cannot go running around for a replacement at this late hour and so has no option but to wait for the board to release the player,” he added.
He further reminded us that the boards of the respective foreign players also get a 10% cut from their earnings once they get picked in the auction.
Gavaskar believes that money should be taken from a player's income based on the number of matches he misses for the franchise. He then concluded his daring suggestion by taking another potshot at overseas players, claiming that some of them become millionaires in the IPL while being "ordinary."
“Remember, the boards get 10% of the player fee, not from the player. This is an additional cost to the franchise, and that is why BCCI needs to be firm and ensure this does not happen. Cutting the player’s fee according to the number of matches he is missing should also apply to the percentage that the overseas boards get for their player,” Gavaskar wrote.
“The cricketing world has been ruled by the old powers without giving anything to the other boards. Here, the BCCI is giving to the boards too, and so they should be telling them not to take the helplessness of the franchise as a weakness and to cancel the contracts of those who don’t want to play the full tournament. No compromises. This is the IPL, not just the best T20 tournament in the world but also the making of millionaires out of some really ordinary overseas players,” he concluded.
(Sportstar inputs)