Former Indian cricketer and commentator Aakash Chopra, on Monday (September 13), expressed his anger at top England players pulling out of the second leg of the Indian Premier League (IPL 2021), which resumes on September 19 in Dubai, UAE.
Chopra believes that there could be serious repercussions for England cricketers in the future, as their sudden pullouts ahead of the resumption of the IPL 2021 will definitely upset their respective franchises, even leading them to feel “betrayed” and leave a sour taste.
His comments came after England’s Dawid Malan (PBKS), Chris Woakes (DC), and Jonny Bairstow (SRH) decided not to travel to the UAE for the second half of the IPL 2021 and the former Indian cricketer has termed it “a mass exodus” and said the “IPL family doesn't forget".
Chopra said on his YouTube channel: “Jos Buttler, Jofra Archer, Ben Stokes - they were already not coming. But now Dawid Malan, Chris Woakes, and Jonny Bairstow have also taken their name back. That means half a dozen English players will not be part of the IPL.”
He continued, “It has been a mass exodus. The IPL family doesn't forget. The English players will have to keep this thing slightly in mind that when you pull out your name from an IPL season, the franchise that has bought you feels cheated, they feel you have been betrayed by them.”
However, the cricket analyst admitted that the current time is extremely tough, as the players have to spend most of their time in the bio-bubble, but still their move to left out the event at the last moment leaves an “elephant's memory” for their franchises.
Chopra further explained, “Of course, these are tough times. We do understand all of that but it remains in the mind that I had gone with you and had created my strategy after a lot of thinking, you were an important cog of my wheel, but the cog has left.”
He signed off by saying, “This means when the auction happens the next time, they have an elephant's memory, they will definitely not forget who all had come and who all left. And because of this when they say that Mitchell Starc will be paid a lot, it is possible he may not get it because when you take back your name twice it remains in the mind of all teams.”
