Resting in the IPL

Mahendra Singh Dhoni has gone on record that a 51-day Indian Premier League tournament in the wake of a 43-day World Cup could tire out the cricketers just ahead of India's tour of the West Indies in the first week of June. However , two of the most successful foreign cricketers playing in the IPL have given the impression that they see the ongoing tournament as R&R — Rest and Recreation! After being rested against his will for the ongoing one-day series in the Caribbeans between the West Indies and Pakistan, former Windies skipper Chris Gayle promptly signed up to play for the Royal Challengers Bangalore. And Gayle lived up to his name in his very first game against the Kolkata Knight Riders on Good Friday by smashing 102 off just 55 balls.

The Gayle IPL performance was not the kind of rest the West Indies selectors had envisaged for their former skipper. One of Sri Lanka's most successful fast bowlers has now opted to play IPL instead of Test cricket for his country. Lasith Malinga had initially informed the Lankan selectors that he was not fit to open the bowling for his national team on next month's tour of England. The Lankan selection committee chairman Duleep Mendis asked Malinga how he could play IPL and be a match-winner for the Mumbai Indians when he was not fit and ordered him back for a rehabilitation programme. And Malinga promptly retired from Test cricket, stating that he was conserving his energies for the 2012 T20 World Cup in Sri Lanka. With the IPL being rated as the world's number two sporting league in terms of average pay by the Global Sports Salaries Survey 2011, cricketers are no longer dependent on the whims and fancies of national selection boards for a living!