Sunil Gavaskar wants owners ‘to drop overseas players’ who turn up late for IPL: ‘Hospitality being misunderstood’

Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar wants team owners to be more strict and drop overseas players who decide to turn up late for IPL.

Published on: Mar 23, 2026, 06:02:56 IST

Written by Vishesh Roy

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Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar urged the Indian Premier League (IPL) team owners to be stricter and take action against overseas players who turn up late to the tournament at the last minute. The IPL 2026 edition is slated to begin on March 28, and some teams don't know whentheir biggest overseas stars will arrive in India. Cricket Australia have already announced that the pace trio of Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins will miss the early stages of the tournament due to workload management.

Sunil Gavaskar wants IPL team owners to be more strict (PTI)

Both Hazlewood and Cummins have been injured for months. The former missed the entire Ashes and the T20 World Cup, while the Australia Test and ODI captain played just one match against England and missed the T20 World Cup.

On the other hand, Starc played the entire Ashes. However, he hasn't played any competitive game since January 2026. But Cricket Australia is managing his workload, given the upcoming busy Test season, when Australia will face Bangladesh, New Zealand and India. However, Gavaskar isn't fond of this workload management, saying the last-minute hassle can break the franchise's entire season. The 1983 World Cup winner said that until and unless the owners decide to be strict in their approach, players will keep taking them for a ride.

“There is also the usual taking the franchise for granted issue with some overseas players, who are not going to be available for non-injury and personal reasons. The owners of the franchises go out of their way to accommodate their players, often paying for families to come and spend time with the players at no cost to the millionaire players, mind you. It’s the Indian way and hospitality, which often is misunderstood as a right by some and who then try to take advantage of the situation,” Gavaskar wrote in his column for Sportstar.

Also Read: Sunil Gavaskar refuses to back down on ‘taxpayer’ claim in Abrar Ahmed row, questions his own ‘contributor’ tag

“We are already hearing about some players who will not be available for a variety of reasons, none of which were informed before they were selected by the franchise. Unless franchise owners start to get tough and drop these players, they will find themselves being hampered in their efforts to win the title. All the planning in forming the squad, which they believe can help them win, goes out of the window when players decide to come whenever they want,” he added.

IPL to begin on March 28

The 19th edition of IPL will begin on March 28 with the tournament opener between the Royal Challengers Bengaluru and Sunrisers Hyderabad at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru.

“Still, it promises to be the tournament that even the carpers secretly keep a tab on and one where the evenings till 31st May will be like hardly ever seen before,” wrote Gavaskar.

Several players will be missing the IPL 2026 season due to injuries. Rajasthan Royals will be without Sam Curran, while Kolkata Knight Riders will be without Akash Deep and Harshit Rana. Matheesha Pathirana will also join the three-time champions late as he is yet to recover from his injury.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Vishesh Roy
Vishesh Roy is a sports journalist with a strong focus on cricket. He began his career at Asian News International (ANI), where he covered a range of high-profile events, including the India Open, Legends Cricket League, the England–India Test series in Ahmedabad in 2021, and the inauguration of the Narendra Modi Stadium. During his tenure at ANI, he also reported extensively on domestic cricket, covering several Ranji Trophy and Vijay Hazare Trophy matches across the country. While cricket remains his primary beat, Vishesh has also reported on tennis, football and WWE. After a stint of over three years at ANI, Vishesh moved to NDTV, where he gained hands-on experience in digital-first journalism, with a particular emphasis on live blogs and real-time news reporting. He joined Hindustan Times in October 2024 and quickly established himself with a series of exclusive interviews and source-driven stories. Ahead of the IPL 2025 auction, Hindustan Times was the first to report that the two-day event would be held in Saudi Arabia. In the early months of his tenure, Vishesh secured interviews with leading cricketers, including Pat Cummins, Shreyas Iyer, Nitish Kumar Reddy and Rashid Latif. He has also closely tracked the rise of emerging talents such as Vaibhav Suryavanshi and Priyansh Arya by speaking to their current and childhood coaches. His background in on-field reporting has helped Hindustan Times Digital break exclusive stories on major developments, including Virat Kohli’s return to the Ranji and Vijay Hazare Trophy, IPL scheduling, and the T20 World Cup controversy involving Bangladesh and Pakistan.Read More

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