The Board of Control for Cricket in India is all set to make a big decision of letting Indian cricketers play in the foreign T20 leagues. Many retired and present players have demanded that Indian players should be allowed to play cricket leagues all around the world. The demand has grown immensely with IPL’s growing influence in foreign countries as the IPL franchise acquire all six teams in the CSA T20 League. The decision on the topic will be taken at the BCCI AGM in the month of September. It will be a treat for not just Indian fans but cricket fans around the world to watch players like Virat Kohli, MS Dhoni and Rohit Sharma play in the foreign T20 league.
Virat Kohli and MS Dhoni Meets during the practice sessions ahead of the IPL 2022. pic.twitter.com/AbTwZu5ho9
— CricketMAN2 (@ImTanujSingh) March 25, 2022
A senior BCCI official told 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.”
Indian women's cricket team players are allowed to play in foreign leagues. Players like Smriti Mandhana, Jemimah Rodrigues and Harmanpreet Kaur have played in the Women's Big Bash League. BCCI even allow retired male players to play in the leagues abroad but all the active Indian cricketers and the players who are playing domestic cricket in India are not allowed to play anywhere else.
Former India cricketer Aakash Chopra had said that BCCI should allow players without central contracts to play in the foreign league whereas the marquee should be kept exclusive for Indian cricket.
