BCCI’s decision to hand over the No Objection Certificate (NOC) to Yuvraj Singh for the Global T20 Canada League came as a huge respite for many out-of-favour Indian players, who are no longer getting picked in the national side and are contemplating retirement.

However, it has now come to the front that the Committee of Administrators’ (CoA) decision to provide Yuvraj the NOC was a one-off.

“What happened in Yuvraj’s case was a one-off and we aren’t looking at handing out any NOCs at present for playing in foreign leagues. We discussed the matter, but felt no action is required to be taken on the issue,” a CoA member quoted as saying by IANS.

This move by the Supreme Court-appointed Committee has left the board officials astonished as they believe that there should be a sense of consistency and there cannot be a change in approach after handing one player the NOC.

“There is something called consistency, but clearly not under the current administration in the board. Arbitrary decision making isn’t the way when it comes to players and their careers. There might be quite a few former players who are no longer part of the scheme of things when it comes to the Indian team who would have thought of retiring and playing in T20 leagues. This sudden U-turn is unfair on them,” the official told IANS.

Another official cited that if one person has retired from the game he could not have featured in competitive cricket anywhere as retirement is not location specific.

“To be honest, you don’t retire geographically. You either retire or you don’t. If some country is permitting retired players to play in T20 leagues, that is an ICC issue. The ICC wishes to be ignorant on such issues. But as far as this U-turn is concerned, it is wrong,” the official rued.

(With IANS inputs)