Dirk Nannes and David Saker were at their vantage point at the Palam sports complex — on the thin strip of land separated by the boundary ropes of the A and B grounds — shifting their attention between their team mates on one side and two other sides playing on the other.

Victoria and Delhi are firing from a shared arsenal in the Champions League, with the Daredevils in particular seeing most of their recruits donning different colours. The Deccan Chargers and Bangalore Royal Challengers, too, have lost a number of players to Victoria and New South Wales. And this scenario will only get more confusing next season with several clubs from other countries going on a shopping spree, leading to a tasteless cocktail in which players are eligible to play for different teams at a time.

In a tournament already delayed by a year, it is this aspect — confused loyalties that could lead to low intensity from players who are doing a balancing act between their IPL contracts and state affiliations — that could harm the tournament in its inaugural edition. While IPL passed the club vs country because all the franchises were based in India, it’s the mix and match of club vs state teams that prove to be a hurdle.

Amrit Mathur, Chief Operations Officer of Daredevils says: “More and more teams has gone on a signing spree to get the best T20 players on board in their domestic competition. This year, we have borne the brunt with many of our players in other teams. But from next year onwards, this trend with only catch on. T teams will start signing players just to make them eligible to play the Champions League, even if they’re not going to be available for most of their domestic events.”

... contd.