The Board of Control for Cricket in India may allow the Indian cricketers to participate in foreign leagues in the coming future. The players are currently restricted from playing in other leagues around the world. However, as per a report in Inside Sports, the board is mulling the decision to allow its players’ participation.
Recently, six Indian Premier League franchises acquired teams in the Cricket South Africa T20 league. After this move, the BCCI seems to be under pressure from the franchises to allow the participation of Indian players in foreign leagues. According to Insidesport, a decision regarding this will be taken in September by the BCCI at its Annual General Meeting.
“Few IPL teams with a presence in leagues abroad have requested the 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,” a senior BCCI official told InsideSport.
🔴 IPL Breaking 🔴
Cricket South Africa confirmed that the Indian Premier League franchise owners have bagged all six franchises available at its new T20 league.#IPL #SOUTHAFRICACRICKET
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— 𝙲𝚁𝙸𝙲𝙺𝙴𝚃 𝙸𝙽𝙳𝙸𝙰♕︎ 🇮🇳 (@Cric__India) July 20, 2022
Centrally contracted highly unlikely to feature in other leagues
Currently, the BCCI allows only the Indian female cricketers to take part in the overseas leagues. A few retired male cricketers have also featured in overseas competitions. However, the active male cricketers’ participation has been restricted by the board. BCCI believes that the Indian Premier League will lose its exclusivity if the players play in other leagues.
As the report by Inside Sport, the BCCI is open to the idea at the moment. However, even if the players are allowed, the regular Indian players, who are centrally contracted are highly unlikely to feature in other leagues.
“It’s good to see the growing footprints of IPL all over the world. But we should not forget that it is because of the Indian players that the IPL is so popular. It is the only league where fans can watch them play. If they start playing in other leagues, it will only increase the viewers’ fatigue. It won’t be exclusive anymore. But there is room for relaxation when it comes to not-so-popular players or cricketers who are not in the reckoning,” the BCCI official said.
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