A foreign affair

Anyone watching the Indian Premier League (IPL) will have witnessed a strange sight. And, no it is not the cheerleaders at a cricket match, the overzealous Bollywood celebrity owners or the fact it is being played in South Africa. It is the 'star' players left on the sidelines.

If you have watched the Delhi Daredevils, for example, in the past few weeks you would have seen shots of glum trio Glenn McGrath, Paul Collingwood and Owais Shah sitting on the bench.

Paul Collingwood is the captain of the England Twenty20 team and a seasoned international player, while Australia's Glenn McGrath has been arguably one of the greatest fast bowlers in the past decade. Shah too is an England international.

If you witnessed matches in which the Bangalore Royal Challengers were playing you would, most of the time, have seen Dale Steyn on the sidelines. He is South Africa's top fast bowler and, as Australians here in the UAE can attest to, a devastating performer.

The list of stars on the sidelines grows longer when you go through the eight IPL teams, but one thing that all these players have in common is that they are been kept out of the teams because of a ruling which permits only four foreign players to participate per match.

In a competition that wishes to attract big audiences globally and was created as a medium to reap commercial benefits – where it has been successful – it does seem strange to have such a restriction.

However, the regulation doesn't affect every 'foreigner'. Take Dirk Nannes, the relatively unknown Dutch-born Australia-based fast-bowler, as an example. The Delhi player is quick to point out, to whomsoever will listen, his privileged position ahead of McGrath.

"I will tell my grandchildren that I was responsible for keeping out the greatest fast bowler of all time from a playing XI," he has stated when questioned before.

Here in Dubai, another Australian player is not particularly concerned about the restriction on international players. David Hussey, who will be joining the Kolkata Knight Riders for the remainder of the IPL season after completing Thursday's T20I against Pakistan, believes the system is beneficial for India.

"It's the Indian IPL, isn't it? It's an Indian league so four foreigners are probably just about the perfect amount if you want to keep the flow of Indian cricketers coming through," explains Hussey. "I know at Kolkata we have [Wriddhiman] Saha, Laxmi [Shukla] and Ashok Dinda, and you want to see them playing and hopefully getting the international exposure to play for India."

You wonder if Hussey will be singing the same tune should he be left on the sidelines upon reaching South Africa today. The Australian does still believe, though, that being in a dressing room that consists the likes of West Indies' Chris Gayle, New Zealand's Brendan McCullum and, India's Sourav Ganguly is beneficial for his game.

"It is a bit of a carnival atmosphere. I really enjoyed playing out there [last year]," says the 31-year-old Western Australian.

"Last year we didn't do well as a team and I'm hoping we can rectify that this year and right a few wrongs.

"It was a wonderful experience and I am looking forward to getting down there again.

"There are a lot of wonderful people and you actually learn a lot just talking cricket with them in the dressing room. They're match-winners for their countries and it is an interesting dressing room to be in."

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