London, May 26(ANI): The lucrative Indian Premier League is a Catch-22 situation for West Indies cricket, and is spoiling Test cricket in the Caribbean Islands, according to sports journalist Henry Blofeld.
Blofeld believes with the Windies' best three players playing in the IPL, no one can blame Chris Gayle, Sunil Narine and Dwayne Bravo for choosing the rewarding Twenty20 format over playing Test cricket for the national team.
"Three of their best players are playing in the IPL. Batsman and former captain Chris Gayle leads the way, apparently determined not to bring his experience back to the Test side, and then there is all-rounder Dwayne Bravo and mystery spinner Sunil Narine, a dangerous bowler," Blofeld wrote in his article for the Daily Express.
"Test cricketers in the West Indies are paid a pittance compared to the rest of the world. If a youngster like Narine is offered $700,000 by the IPL, money he could never hope to earn at home, he would be crazy not to accept it. And so would the other two, who have been around much longer," he added.
"It would be irrational to expect them to do anything but go to India. The West Indies play plenty of Test cricket at the time of the year when the IPL is in full flow and are going to suffer more than others if good enough players are identified," he wrote.
Blofeld said even if these players make them available for the one-day series against England, after missing out on the Test series due to participation in the IPL, these are signals for the West Indies cricket authorities to wake up from their slumber and act.
"These players have the chance to make themselves available for one-day series which do not coincide with the IPL. But the plain, unpalatable, indisputable fact is if the IPL continues in its present form it will sound the death knell for West Indies Test cricket, coupled with the other factors affecting their game," Blofeld wrote. (ANI)