Ravichandran Ashwin on Thursday made history when he become the first male Indian cricketer to play in the Big Bash League after the Sydney Thunder signed up the spinner after he retired from the Indian national team and the India Premier League. His retirement from both the India team as well as the IPL thereby opened doors for the tweaker to play in an overseas league.
As per the BCCI, it only allows retired Indian players to ply their trade in foreign leagues with Dinesh Karthik, Ambati Rayudu, Yusuf Pathan, Suresh Raina and Robin Uthappa among the other retired stars to play in overseas franchise tournaments.
Why does the BCCI not allow active India players to compete in overseas leagues?
One of the main reasons that the BCCI does not allow India players to t5ake part in foreign leagues is because it might diminish the value of the IPL. “No current Indian players will be taking part in any of the leagues, but as far as franchise participation is concerned, we can’t stop them, a top BCCI official had told The Indian Express back in 2023. “It’s their individual decision. We have seen IPL franchises going to South Africa or Dubai and we can’t say no. It’s their choice to have their team in any of the leagues around the world.”
Even then India coach Rahul Dravid had weighed in on the matter in 2022 in a press conference, saying that letting India players participate in these overseas tournaments will have an adverse effect on the country’s domestic competitions like the Ranji Trophy due to them clashing with the overseas leagues’ schedule.
“I think it’s a huge challenge for us. Yes, I think a lot of our boys maybe do miss out on the opportunities of playing in a lot of these leagues, but if you were to… it’s really up to the BCCI to make that decision, but the thing is it’s right in the middle of our season, and with the kind of demand there would be for Indian players, if you allowed all the Indian players to play in these leagues, we would not have a domestic cricket [tournament]. Our domestic trophy, our Ranji Trophy, would be finished, and that would mean Test cricket would be finished,” Dravid had said.
“I know a lot of people talk about it [no Indians in overseas T20 leagues], but we have to be very careful when we… we have to understand the challenges that Indian cricket faces or the BCCI would face in a situation like this. You’d see all our boys… like a lot of boys being asked to play leagues right bang in the middle of our season. We’ve seen what that’s done to West Indian cricket, and I would definitely not want Indian cricket to go that way. It would certainly affect our Ranji Trophy; it would affect Test cricket. Indian boys playing Test cricket is pretty important for the Test game as well, I would think,” he had added.
The Unmukt Chand saga
Unmukt Chand, a former U-19 World Cup winning captain for India, also played the BBL but he had called time on his playing career in India in 2021 and was representing the USA team when he signed the contract for the Melbourne Renegades for the 2021-2022 season.
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Chand, a former India A skipper, had never played for the Indian senior team but was part of three IPL franchises — Delhi Daredevils, Mumbai Indians and Rajasthan Royals. He had a domestic career spanning more than a decade, including 67 first-class matches. Chand burst on to the international stage as a teenager in the 2012 ICC U-19 World Cup in Australia. He was player of the match in the final, scoring an unbeaten 111 against an Australian side featuring a host of now-BBL stars, including the likes of Travis Head and Ashton Turner.
The postR Ashwin joins Sydney Thunders: Examining why BCCI doesn’t allow India cricketers to play in leagues like BBL | Cricket News appeared first on Indian Express
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