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September 14, 2013

It is all about Money - Honey - "The peculiar case of Kumar Sangakkara"



 CLT20 cricket 2013 is about to be kicked off. A dozen of the world’s best Twenty20 cricketers were in high confusion after being named by more than one squad.

CLT20 regulations state that when a player elects to play for their ‘away’ team, that team must pay the ‘home’ team $150,000 compensation per player. A ‘home’ team is classified as a team from the country a player is eligible to represent in international cricket. This payment is applicable for 10 of the 12 players that were eligible for more than one team. The following is the list of cricketers who chose their IPL club over their home clubs except Sangakkara.  

Dwayne Bravo            Trinidad & Tobago        /           Chennai Super Kings*
Kevon Cooper             Trinidad & Tobago       /           Rajasthan Royals*  
Nathan Coulter-Nile   Perth Scorchers             /           Mumbai Indians*
Faf du Plesses             Titans/Chennai             /           Super Kings*
Mike Hussey               Perth Scorchers            /           Chennai Super Kings*
Mitchell Johnson         Brisbane Heat              /           Mumbai Indians*  
Albie Morkel               Titans                           /           Chennai Super Kings*  
Chris Morris                Highveld Lions            /           Chennai Super Kings*  
Thisara Perera              Brisbane Heat              /           Sunrisers Hyderabad*
Kieron Pollard             Trinidad & Tobago      /           Mumbai Indians*
Kumar Sangakkara      Sunrisers Hyderabad   /           Kandurata Maroons*
 Shane Watson            Brisbane Heat             /           Rajasthan Royals*

Kumar Sangakkara was very unhappy the way his issue was dealt with. He was miffed about his loyalty being questioned

He said he is ultimately happy to represent his home province, but was perturbed by the manner in which the board publicly framed his situation, which he does not believe ever entailed a question of country loyalty. Sangakkara will lose $140,000 from his IPL salary as a result of his decision.

Sangakkara had previously said that he had no choice but to honour his contract with Sunrisers, but the Champions League organizers have since said that it is down to players to choose.  He will forfeit 20% of his IPL salary, or $140,000, if he does play for Kandurata instead of Sunrisers Hyderabad, and Sri Lankan Cricket would also miss out on a $150,000 payment that Hyderabad would have to make if Sangakkara did not play for the team from his own country.

This is what Kumar Sangakkara said “There's been a statement made that SLC was willing to lose $150,000 by getting me to play for Kandurata. I think the true picture is that I incurred a considerable financial loss out of my salary, and the board incurs a financial loss of $150,000 out of approximately $1.5 million that they will earn through the Champions League, via player commissions of 10% on each players' contract, plus the half a million dollars the Champions League pays for franchise participation. I think there is little or no comparison in the amounts lost. None of the board members or anyone else loses individually, but the player suffers.

The real matter is not the financial penalty, but the issue of principle. This is not a country versus money issue, but it was created to be so, and I as a player was left alone to be caught in the middle of it".

SLC confirmed that they would not be able to fully compensate Sangakkara for his lost salary if he does choose Kandurata, but it may not be only money that motivates the decision.  It would surely be an unpopular move if he were to choose the Indian side over his local team, with the IPL not always the most popular tournament in Sri Lanka, especially after this year’s contracts dispute and the controversy around Tamil Nadu’s ban on Sri Lankan players.

Finally Sangakkara has to play for his home town over his IPL’s Sunrisers. I have no doubt that Sanga would have preferred Sunrisers over his home team but for the political sentiment and the unpopular sentiment that IPL seems to have generated in Sri Lanka. 

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