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After India’s humiliating loss in the semifinal of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup against England at Adelaide Oval, coach Rahul Dravid said that playing in overseas T20 leagues may bring its own advantages, but it could lead to Test cricket being finished from the country’s cricketing system.
While the Indian cricketers feature in the IPL as well as in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy in the domestic circuit, they are not allowed to participate in overseas franchise T20 leagues which restricts them from the exposure that they need on a global stage. On the other hand, England has taken full advantage of the IPL and other franchise T20 competitions apart from their own country’s leagues like The T20 Blast and The Hundred.
Apart from participating in the IPL, England’s players have also played in Pakistan Super League (PSL), Australia’s Big Bash League (BBL), Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) and many other competitions.
Leg-spinner Adil Rashid, opener Alex Hales, fast-bowling all-rounder Chris Jordan and batter Phil Salt are four England players who had previous extensive experience of playing T20 matches at the Adelaide Oval, thanks to their stints with Adelaide Strikers in the BBL.
When asked about should Indian players be allowed to participate in overseas franchise leagues in the post-match press conference, Dravid said, “Sure, there’s no doubt about it the fact that a lot of their players have come here and played. In this tournament, it certainly showed. It’s tough. I think it’s very difficult for Indian cricket because a lot of these tournaments happen right in the peak of our season.”
“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. 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.”
Further explaining about how India’s participation in these leagues could affect India’s domestic cricket and Test Cricket, Dravid said, “Our domestic trophy, our Ranji trophy would be finished, and that would mean Test cricket would be finished. I know a lot of people talk about it, but we have to be very careful. 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.”
On the future of senior players in the T20I squad with the next edition of the tournament happening in West Indies in 2024, Dravid said, “It’s too early to talk about it right now, it’s just after a semifinal game. I mean these guys have been terrific performers for us. Yeah, like you said, we have a couple of years to reflect on it.
“There’s some really good quality players here, so absolutely not the right time to talk about this stuff or think about this stuff right now. We’ll have enough games, enough matches as we go on ahead, and India will try and build and prepare for the next World Cup,” he added.
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