Cricket - The Gentleman’s Game

Australian fast bowler Mitchell Johnson has decided to opt out of the IPL auctioning as he believes that playing in IPL might affect his long-term future as a cricketer in the Australian team. Johnson is a successful test and one-day bowler in Australian cricket and is also making some runs for his team. This has attracted the attention of the IPL team owners who were willing to get him into their teams, ready to pay a huge amount. However, Johnson decided otherwise.

Johnson did not participate in the last IPL season on the same grounds saying that he needs to concentrate on his career.  At that time he was not selected to test cricket in Australia and said that he would consider IPL only after getting a place in Australian test cricket. He indeed achieved his goal over the last year and is selected for test cricket. So, he conveyed his interest to participate in IPL in 2009. However, he suddenly changed his mind and said that, given his hectic cricket schedule playing for Australia, he needs to rest for some time. He felt that playing in IPL will deprive him of any rest and would ruin his body. He acknowledged that he will be losing a huge amount of money by opting out of IPL but preferred his long term career over the monetary gains through IPL.

Trackback URI | Comments RSS