Two Indian cricketers will be seen plying their trade in a foreign T20 league for the first time as Chennai Super Kings' Mukesh Choudhary and Delhi Capitals' Chetan Sakariya have been signed to play in Queensland's new league named KFC T20 Max series. The tournament will run from August 18 to September 4. Sakariya will play for the Sunshine Coast team while Choudhary will play for Wynnum-Manly. These two Indian players are getting to play in this T20 league as part of exchange program between Cricket Australia and MRF Pace Foundation that is set up in Chennai, capital city of Tamil Nadu.
The pacers will train at National Cricket Centre and will also join Queensland Bulls in their pre-season preparations. It could be the first time that Indian cricketers, without official retirement, will take part in a T20 league outside India. BCCI does not allow its cricketers to play in foreign leagues. Only those cricketers who are not contracted with either the BCCI or the state cricket associations are free to play outside India.
And, another one in the bag for Mukesh Choudhary.
Brevis departs for 4 runs.
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The demand among current Indian cricketers is growing to play in leagues abroad. Not to forget, IPL teams who also have teams in foreign T20 leagues have approached BCCI to allow players to play in the leagues outside. BCCI has releted this demand for a long time to bring an exclusivity to the league. But with more and more foreign T20 leagues coming up, we may see Indians taking part in such competition.
A senior BCCI official was recently quoted as saying on InsideSport, "Few IPL teams with a presence in leagues abroad have requested BCCI to allow Indian players. But we have to discuss this at the AGM before coming to any conclusion. It is a contentious issue as IPL is successful because of the exclusivity it provides. Definitely, we won’t lose that. As for Indian players playing abroad, it may happen due to the growing number of franchise leagues."
