No longer a gentleman's game

Writing in ABC's Unleashed, Dileep Premachandran believes that the IPL might undermine the primacy of international cricket.

A journalist is preparing to sit down for dinner with his family when the phone rings. It's the agent of a player who wants the journalist to write his biography. "I’m on a yacht in the harbour, with four bottles of champagne by my side," he says cockily. "Our man just sold for close to a million." His jubilation is understandable. After all, he is Mr 15 Per Cent.

The player has just been through a gruelling season, one in which he has enhanced his reputation as one of the game's modern-day greats. Won't 14 matches in six weeks, even if it's Twenty20, be a bridge too far, asks the journalist. The agent's response was revealing. "He can always do a hamstring after three or four games," he says with a snicker.