Cricket needs IPL window to survive - Ponting

Ricky Ponting, the Australia captain, fears for the future of international cricket if administrators don't carve out a six-week window for the Indian Premier League. The tournament opens in Bangalore on Friday and while the cricket world is waiting to see how big it will be, Ponting is concerned about how it could influence players.

"If they don't [have an international window], I fear for the long-term impact that it will have on the game," Ponting wrote in the Australian. "Much has been said about the veterans coming to the end of their careers, but what about those players just starting out?

"I think it's vital that we have a six-week period carved out of every international team's program because the money being thrown around becomes very appealing to young kids coming into the game."

Ponting expressed concern that players might choose the lucrative Twenty20 league over national duties. "Seeing the big dollars there and having the chance to take that and turn your back on international cricket is the biggest danger that will be posed out of this event," Ponting said. "For those young guys starting out who haven't had a taste of international cricket, they might not want to put themselves through the rigours of travelling the world for the next 15 years.

"And the guys at the end of their careers have family at home and it's getting harder and harder for them to go away on tours every year. For them, they could make the equivalent amount of money in only seven weeks."

Ponting highlighted the exodus faced by countries such as New Zealand, with key players like Shane Bond having joined the unsanctioned Indian Cricket League. "I know it has lost a couple of its bigger and better players because of the difference in pay playing for New Zealand," Ponting said. "The Kiwis' IPL contracts are probably four times the value of their international contract.

"That's where the dangers are. You would hate to see a situation where New Zealand is no longer playing international cricket because it has no players."

John Buchanan, the former Australia coach who is with the Kolkata Knight Riders, expressed similar concerns in the Sydney Morning Herald. He said cricket needed to sort out its finances and the likes of Allen Stanford, the Texan billionaire hoping to revive West Indies cricket, should be welcomed.

"With the exception of Australia, England and India, every country in world cricket is struggling to pay their players sufficiently," he said. "For example, we have Brendon McCullum with us, and there's no way New Zealand Cricket could be paying him in a day what the IPL is.

"But there shouldn't be any debate in terms of him playing for his country. That is of utmost importance. But administrators should allow the IPL to subsidise his income with New Zealand Cricket."