Why BCCI Doesn't Allow The Indian Players To Play In The Foreign T-20 Leagues? Is It Fair or Unfair?

In this century, we saw several enormous changes in the world like - the rise of social media, people engaging more with the internet, etc. Furthermore, in this century we saw many transformations in cricket also. In cricket also several things have changed in the 20th century. The biggest change that we saw is the rise of T-20 cricket. In February 2005, the first-ever International T-20 match was played. Since then, T-20 cricket has become an important format of the game same like Test and ODI cricket. The major reason for the rise of T-20 cricket is the various T-20 leagues. The franchise cricket all over the world have boosted the popularity level of the game and changed the game forever. Due to the T-20 cricket, the attitude and approach of the cricketers towards the game has also changed. Every year several T-20 cricket leagues take place all over the world like – Indian Premier League, Big Bash League, Caribbean Premier League, Pakistan Super League, etc. playing all over the world. The most popular and richest cricket league in the world is the Indian Premier League. Every cricketer in the world dream to play in the Indian Premier League because of the money, glamour, publicity and the level of competition. Every year, many players from all over the world come to India to participate in the IPL but the Indian cricketers do not participate in the foreign T-20 leagues. 

The BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India) does not allow their players to participate in other countries' domestic leagues. The Indian players have permission to play in only one foreign domestic league which is the County cricket. As per the BCCI rules, a player has to take retirement from  International and Indian domestic cricket to play in the foreign T20 leagues. Yuvraj Singh and Manpreet Singh Gony are the two cricketers, who had taken retirement to play in the foreign T20 leagues. However, before the inclusion of IPL, the Indian players like – Virender Sehwag, Sourav Ganguly, Mohammad Kaif has played in English T20 competition.

Many of the cricket followers all over the world have the question that why BCCI does not allow their players to participate in the foreign T-20 leagues.      

There are many reasons behind not giving permission to the Indian cricketers for participating in the foreign domestic leagues.  

1.More preference to the domestic tournaments: The Indian cricket board want their players to give the first priority to their own domestic tournaments so that the young cricketers will train well and senior players can also assess themselves in front of the young talent. The BCCI wants their players to enhance their cricketing skills by playing the longest format of the game in domestic tournaments like Ranji Trophy rather than playing T-20 leagues in other countries.

2. The Jam-Packed schedule of the Indian cricket: The other major reason to not participate in the foreign T-20 leagues is the scheduling time. Due to the clash in the timings of the foreign T-20 leagues and the Indian domestic tournaments like – Ranji Trophy, Duleep Trophy, Deodhar Trophy, Indian players do not participate in the foreign T-20 leagues. The Indian cricket board want their players to engage with their own domestic tournaments.

3. To strengthen the brand value of IPL: The third big reason is to maintain the status of IPL. Everyone knows that IPL is the most popular and richest cricket in the world and that’s mainly because of money and a big pool of talented Indian cricketers. The Indian cricket board does not want their players to promote the other leagues. Most of the cricket fans in the world attract to cricket because of the Indian players. If; the Indian players start playing in the other leagues then the brand value of the IPL may reduce.

Most of the cricket experts and fanatics believe that BCCI should allow the Indian cricketers to play in the foreign T-20 leagues. According to them, if the Indian players participate in the foreign T-20 leagues then they will become more useful to play in those conditions, which will be helpful for them in the International matches. While some people think that BCCI should not allow the Indian players to participate in the foreign T-20 leagues.

A few days ago, the former Indian pacer Irfan Pathan in an Instagram live chat with Suresh Raina said that BCCI should allow all the players to play in the foreign T-20 leagues who are above 30 in age and not playing the International cricket. The 2007 T-20 World Cup champion, Robin Uthappa has said that the BCCI should give permission to the Indian players to play in the foreign T-20 leagues. In an interview on the BBC podcast, he said, “ it hurts when players are not allowed to play in cricket leagues outside the country".  

According to me, BCCI should not allow the Indian players to play in the foreign T-20 leagues. It is true that the Indian players struggle in the foreign tours but, in Test cricket not in the limited-overs cricket. The skill level of a player improves by playing the domestic Test cricket more and more. So, it will be better if the Indian players play domestic tournaments more. 

What you think, Should BCCI give permission to their players to participate in the foreign T-20 leagues? Please give your opinion on the same by voting and adding a comment in the comments section.