- Mar 4, 2024
- Jun 13, 2023
The Indian Cricket Board and the Indian T20 League Governing Council are considering taking a U-turn on the rule of not sending Indian players to overseas T20 leagues, a report by the Indian Express suggests.
The contracts of players of the Men in Blue with their respective IPL franchises do not allow them to feature in other T20 leagues around the globe. The Indian Cricket Board, as well, haven’t allowed the players from featuring in leagues like the Big Bash, T20 Blast etc.
The two other powerful boards being England Cricket Board and the Australian cricket board have forced the Indian cricket board to rethink on the same and change their stance on this issue. Much to the delight of the fans, this change of stance is expected to take place very soon.
“We have been having informal discussions on this. One school of thought is it will give players exposure and help upcoming players. It is still a long way ahead, but more and more boards are making noise about having Indian players in their leagues. The BCCI wanted to keep the brand IPL intact, hence they were not allowed to participate in other leagues. But after 11 years, it shouldn’t have a problem,” an Express source told them.
According to the report, if everything goes ahead as planned, the ICC will introduce three windows for T20 leagues, one each for Asia, the UK, and the Caribbean and Southern Hemisphere so that international fixtures don’t clash with these franchise-based T20 leagues. As of now, only IPL has been provided with a separate window.
The provision can come into effect by 2022 or 2023, however, it is believed that talks are at an advanced stage and a decision on the same can be taken shortly.
If the talks materialize, it would provide the Indian players with a great opportunity to rub shoulders with greats of World Cricket in various T20 leagues around the world. This would help them get used to various overseas conditions as well which will help them to play better overseas and formulate better strategies with the think tank of the team so that it results in victories for the Men in Blue.
Also if the retired cricketers of the Men in Blue come and play overseas franchise leagues then it will add to the star power of the leagues and increase more fan following in those various parts of the world.