No Indian player, contracted or retired and playing in IPL, will be allowed by the Indian cricket board to feature in the two upcoming T20 leagues of South Africa and UAE. No one playing in the IPL would be even allowed to be a mentor in these overseas leagues.Despite a number of IPL franchise owners buying teams in the upcoming T20 tournaments to be based out of South Africa and UAE, the BCCI will not change its policy to restrict the involvement of Indian players in overseas leagues.
As per the current policy of the BCCI, any contracted India cricketer will have to retire and cut all ties with the board before getting involved in any overseas league.“It’s clear, no Indian player including domestic players can take part in any other league until he is retired from all forms of the game. If any player wants to take part in these upcoming leagues he can only do so when he cuts off all ties with the BCCI,” a BCCI official was quoted as saying by The Indian Express.
If CSK decide to utilise the services of MS Dhoni as a mentor, they won’t be allowed to do so unless the legendary captain announces retirement from IPL first.“Then he can’t play IPL for CSK. He has to retire here first,” the BCCI official said.In a sharp retort, legendary India cricketer Sunil Gavaskar alleged the ‘old powers’ have a problem when BCCI is trying to protect its cricket.“Some overseas former players have said that the Indian players should be allowed to play the Big Bash or the Hundred. They are concerned about their cricket, which is totally understandable. But when Indian cricket looks to protect its cricket by ensuring that their players stay fresh for their matches and thus restricting them from playing overseas, that is not acceptable to the guys from the ‘old powers,’ Gavaskar wrote in his column for Sportstar.
