"Some of these youngsters lose the fire in the belly" - Sunil Gavaskar on the downsides of the IPL

Former Indian skipper Sunil Gavaskar recently highlighted the downsides of the Indian Premier League (IPL), saying that youngsters "lose the fire in the belly" after bagging huge paychecks.

While there is no denying the fact that the T20 league has been a big boon for Indian cricket, it also has some negative aspects. Several young talents have gone down the drain after failing to cope with the media hype and all the attention and money that comes with the mega contracts.

Gavaskar also pointed out the same in his column for Sportstar, writing that many players lose the zeal to perform after earning huge contracts in the IPL.

“Then, having been bought for crores, some of these youngsters lose the fire in the belly and are happy to cruise along in later years and get their contracts extended, even if it is for a lesser amount," he said.

It is worth noting that Unmukt Chand was touted as one of India's brightest prospects coming up the ranks after winning the ICC U19 World Cup in 2012. Soon after he bagged an IPL contract, but failed to realize his true potential.

He eventually lost his place in the Delhi team and made a move to Uttarakhand before shifting his base to the USA, where he was recently seen playing trade in the Major League Cricket.

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"It’s a different ball game of pressures and expectations" - Sunil Gavaskar on players failing in international cricket after performing well in IPL

Sunil Gavaskar stressed that Indian players struggled badly in transitioning during the recently concluded five-match T20I series against the West Indies. Led by Hardik Pandya, the Men in Blue went down 2-3.

Apart from Tilak Varma and Suryakumar Yadav, all the other Indian batters were below par. The likes of Ishan Kishan, Shubman Gill, and Sanju Samson failed to grab the opportunity against the Windies, who failed to qualify for the 2023 ODI World Cup.

“A player could do well at the franchise level, but when it comes to playing for the country, it’s a different ball game of pressures and expectations," Gavaskar wrote. "It is one step up, which can be too steep for even some of the best performers at the franchise level."

"How often have we seen this when the Under-19 performers just aren’t able to take that one step up from a boys’ tournament to a men’s competition?” he added.

The Indian think tank will try out a separate set of players in the upcoming three-match T20I series against Ireland, with Jasprit Bumrah at the helm. They are currently auditioning for the next T20 World Cup in 2024.

The three T20Is will be played on August 18, 20, and 23 at Malahide in Dublin.