Gavaskar tells IPL franchises to start dropping overseas players who turn up late
Four days out from the start of IPL 2026, Sunil Gavaskar has written a pointed column for Sportstar calling on franchise owners to stop tolerating late arrivals from overseas players.
Gavaskar singles out non-injury absences
Gavaskar drew a clear line between players missing matches through genuine injury and those pulling out for vaguer reasons. "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," he wrote.
The former India captain saved particular frustration for what he sees as a pattern: players waiting until their auction contracts are secured before revealing that they cannot commit to the full season. Gavaskar believes all the careful planning that goes into building a squad "goes out of the window when players decide to come whenever they want."
Hospitality or entitlement?
In his column, Gavaskar highlighted the lengths franchises go to in accommodating their overseas stars. Owners routinely cover flights and accommodation for players' families at no cost. That generosity, Gavaskar argued, is being misread. "Indian hospitality is often misunderstood as a right by some, who then try to take advantage of the situation," he wrote.
His proposed fix is blunt: start dropping players who cannot commit. Unless owners grow a spine and enforce consequences, Gavaskar believes the cycle will continue every season.
A crowded list of absentees
The timing of the column is no accident. Several high-profile overseas players will miss the opening weeks of IPL 2026, which begins on March 28 with RCB hosting SRH in Bengaluru.
Mitchell Starc is waiting on a Cricket Australia clearance before joining Delhi Capitals, who retained him for 11.75 crore. Josh Hazlewood, retained by RCB for 12.50 crore, is nursing an Achilles problem and also needs CA approval. Pat Cummins is undergoing rehabilitation for a back injury, with Ishan Kishan stepping in as interim captain. And New Zealand quick Lockie Ferguson has told Punjab Kings he will miss their first matches to spend time with his newborn son.
Some of those absences are clearly medical. Others fall into the grey area Gavaskar is targeting. The column does not name individual players, but the message is hard to miss when half the tournament's premium pace imports are unavailable on day one.
A recurring argument with no easy answer
This is not the first time Gavaskar has raised the issue. Complaints about overseas player availability surface every IPL season, and franchises have so far shown little appetite to follow through on penalties. The financial stakes are enormous. Dropping a 12-crore import over a two-week absence risks weakening the squad for the remaining ten weeks of the tournament.
But Gavaskar's argument is that the status quo weakens squads too. Teams build their strategies around specific overseas combinations, and when those plans fall apart days before the first ball, coaches are left scrambling. Whether owners agree enough to act remains the question no one has answered in 18 years of the IPL.
