Daniel Vettori's captaincy career may come to be defined by how the the Indian Premier League/England tour issue is handled.
This is a great opportunity for Vettori to think long term, be strategic and if I was him I would be quick to get out in front of this one, because the payoff is huge.
At issue is about US$300,000 of lost earnings if he makes the call to be on tour with the BlackCaps in
In the overall scheme of things this is small bananas for Dan. He will make at least $1m per annum for each of the next two years and I would imagine he will then sign for a further three as well.
As it is, he will pick up about $300,000 for the couple of weeks that he will be on IPL duty and although the temptation is to push hard for as much as he can, the smart money is on taking the high ground and doing what he knows is right _ getting together with New Zealand Cricket chief executive Justin Vaughan and ensuring that he leads from the front in getting all the New Zealand squad on tour from the start.
If Vettori commits, the others will gladly follow him. He will have stamped his mark on his team and the era of big money cricket.
He will be lauded in the media and by the public and as a result if his captaincy comes under pressure he will have plenty of slack to play with.
Conversely if he doesn't lead this issue it could go badly wrong for him very quickly. Allowing his side to begin their tour of
If things go poorly in the subsequent test series, Vettori will be in a position from which his captaincy may never recover.
Is it worth the risk? From a purely business perspective this should be the easiest decision he has ever made- but temptation is a powerful thing.
break
With the Indian Cricket League under way, it look like being a reasonably tight race for the semifinals.
Both the new sides,
My Chennai team, who are defending champions, should have beaten
In terms of a spectacle it was right up there with quality batting from former internationals Michael Bevan and Inzamamam-ul-Haq, and various cameos around them.
My old mate Saqlain Mushtaq, not content with inventing the doosra a few years back has been at it again, this time pioneering what appears to be an off spinning version of the Flipper.
Essentially it comes out of the front of his hand and does its best to roll along the ground all the while looking like an off break. It is not the easiest thing in the world to try and hit out of the ground.
Spectator support has been strong with the ground mostly full.
In the last few days massive billboards have begun to spring up all over the city and the quality of the television production in regard to graphics is state of the art, certainly far more advanced and a lot slicker than Super 14 or ODI coverage at home.
Bollywood movie stars are big business over here and the latest news has a number of local superstars in talks with the ICL with regards ownership of their local teams.
Certainly with the success of the IPL franchise structure, if the ICL decided to sell off their teams via a franchise model they would have little trouble unloading them at a considerable profit.
Interestingly the BCCIs success is actually helping ICL gain a foothold. In recent years new stadiums have sprung up as Indian cricket has invested in its infrastructure allowing the ICL to snap up a number of venues previously used for international matches.
From what I have seen there is no shortage of stadiums across
In my view, the IPL is a bigger threat to the world game, with players keen to play as many games as possible at the expense of their international obligations
