29 June 2023 , 09:11
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England's T20 World Cup winning captain Jos Buttler is set to be offered a highly lucrative multi-year contract by his Indian Premier League (IPL) side Rajasthan Royals.
With the owners of IPL franchises also purchasing teams in other T20 leagues around the world, such as the Caribbean Premier League (CPL), SA20, ILT20 and Major League Cricket (MLC), they have been open about their desire to sign the best players to long-term contracts that will see them play year-round for each of their franchises.
Kolkata Knight Riders chief executive Venky Mysore said back in July 2022: "That gives us the opportunity to make our vision and our strategy even stronger. If we were able to have X number of contracted players, and were able to use them all in different leagues, I think that would be nirvana.
"What we want to create is a common platform and a system and a culture that allows us to participate around the year - enhancing our brand, building our fan base, and providing opportunities to cricketers around the world. And in the process, you build hopefully a successful business around it."
The Knight Riders Group also own the Trinbago Knight Riders in the CPL, Abu Dhabi Knight Riders in the ILT20 and Los Angeles Knight Riders in MLC as well as their IPL side.
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And the Telegraph are now reporting that Rajasthan Royals are going to offer Buttler a landmark four-year contract to represent all three of their teams, which include SA20 side Paarl Royals and CPL outfit Barbados Royals.
Buttler has been with Rajasthan Royals since 2018, when he was bought for around £488,000 at the IPL auction, and also played for Paarl Royals in the inaugural SA20 earlier this year. The report states that while a contract offer has not yet been formally made, it would be 'worth millions of pounds'. The news comes after the Daily Mail reported back in May that Jofra Archer's IPL franchise, Mumbai Indians, were also set to offer him a 'year-round, multi-million-pound deal'.
ECB chief Richard Gould is already planning to try and stop IPL franchises from poaching England's best players (ECB via Getty Images)In a bid to combat the rise of franchise leagues, ECB chief executive Richard Gould stated in April that they were planning to increase match fees and offer multi-year central contracts to ensure they do not lose their top stars. "We don't have a choice in this, if we don't secure the services of our best players, the media rights deal will drop," he admitted.
"This is an existential issue for us. We cannot afford not to have our best players available when we really need them. Otherwise our values will drop. We're going to have to pay [England players' more money at some time. We'll be looking to get the match fees up, both with the men and the women.
"If you look at any franchise tournament around the world, they don't have academies, they don't have player pathways, they will get their talent by taking the cream off the top. This is an issue for franchise tournaments, we need to make sure that franchise tournaments are paying their way and contributing towards the cost of the player development pathway, both men and women."