IPL is a big party, says Ryder

Wellington - New Zealand all-rounder Jesse Ryder Sunday called the Indian Premier League (IPL) a “big party”.

Ryder’s international career hit a roadblock after he admitted to having a drinking problem, and said that the IPL franchises provided all the luxuries to the player.

“It’s an easy life over there. They (IPL franchises) look after you so well and there’s so many parties and at those parties, there’s free booze,” Ryder was quoted as saying by Fairfax News Agency.

Ryder, who played for the Pune Warriors India in the last season, said he was happy that he managed to get through this edition incident free. He saw this as a great start to overcome his drinking problem.

“Unlike the past, I got through it (IPL) easy without drinking or incident. I think the whole reason for that is, that for the first time, this is my call to stop the drinking. This time it’s not about having everyone else push me into it. In the past, I’ve just been frustrated the whole time, you know. But this time, it was my call. It’s all on me. I want to do this for myself.”

In April, he paid for clinical psychologist Karen Nimmo to join him during the early stages of the IPL before his manager Aaron Klee arrived to take the reins.