A DISPUTE that could gravely affect the future of the Indian Premier League is brewing, with some Australian players who participated in the glitzy competition still waiting to be paid.

The unprecedented player auction shocked the cricket world in February, with top Australian players signed by rich Indian franchises for huge amounts of money. However, it seems not everyone has yet enjoyed the windfall.

Australian Cricketers Association chief executive Paul Marsh confirmed that a number of the Australians were yet to receive their wages. He said his organisation was not panicking about the impasse but was preparing to take firmer action if there was no breakthrough soon.

That time is creeping up. One player confided to The Sun-Herald that he had been told three times that his wages were on the way.

“First I was told it would be in two weeks,” the player said.

“That passed by and I was told it would be in the following week. Then I was told it would be in in the next few days. I just said, ‘I’ll believe it when I see it’.”

Another player was trying to get an instalment through because he needed it to meet mortgage repayments. A third player confirmed to The Sun-Herald that he had finally been paid on Wednesday. “It’s something we’re aware of. There’s still a few that haven’t been paid,” Marsh said.

“It’s certainly something we’ve got our eye on but it’s not something that we’re panicking about. We just want to get a result as soon as we can. I don’t want to blow this up into something that it’s not, but I also do want to sort it out as quickly as possible.”

Marsh said the ACA had no formal link with the franchises as they do not recognise player associations. However, the franchises – which have sole responsibility to pay the players – have agreements with the BCCI. Therefore, he said, if the wages were not paid, the ACA’s only recourse would be through the BCCI.

However, Marsh is confident the problem would be resolved soon.

“The bad PR that would eventuate if the players weren’t paid would be so bad that none of the players would go back and the whole thing would fall over,” he said.

“You’re talking about some billion-dollar corporations so you just can’t see how they wouldn’t pay their players. They know they have to pay their players and that’s why we’re not panicking.

“The clubs’ focus has been about putting their teams on the field. It’s organised chaos over there. But at the same time, we’d like to think they would have been more professional than this.

“It’s something we’ll go a bit harder on in the not too distant future if it doesn’t get sorted out.”
Source:smh.com.au