Former Test wicketkeeper batsman Deep Dasgupta put forth his views whether Indian players should be allowed to play in overseas leagues, apart from the Indian Premier League (IPL).

Quite a few out-of-favour, experienced players, including Suresh Raina, Robin Uthappa, have requested for a change in stance and allowance from the BCCI to feature in T20 leagues abroad. 

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Currently, only those players who have retired from Indian cricket are free to play in leagues such as the Caribbean Premier League (CPL), Big Bash League (BBL) and others. 

Dasgupta, having thought the matter through, explained during an interview on Sports Tiger’s YouTube show ‘Off the Field' why there shall be leniency on non-contracted players in this regard, but not for the contracted ones. 

"My point is that you should let them go," he said. "But there have to be few caveats attached to it. One of them according to me is that anyone who has played international cricket in the last two years or is a contracted player, they shouldn’t be allowed."

"Because they are contracted and are in the India scene, you want them to play domestic cricket when they are not playing international cricket. That’s my point of view."

Dasgupta also thinks there shall be a limit on how much money a domestic player can earn from playing the IPL, so as to create more parity between such cricketers' earnings and those who toil at the first-class level without IPL recognition. 

"From an IPL perspective, there needs to be a capping on how much a domestic cricketer can get. Because the other important aspect you need to think about is that there has to be some parity between a first-class cricketer, who plays a very important aspect in the 3-4 months of domestic cricket, his payment and somebody who plays IPL and plays T20 outside India.”

"The excess amount in the bidding, lets say you put the limit at 1.5 CR, goes in a kitty which is later distributed among the first-class cricketers."

This two-part arrangement, feels Dasgupta, allows senior cricketers to ply their trade elsewhere at a time when they aren't being considered for India selection and also ensures young ones are prioritising the first-class game. 

"That allows a lot of senior cricketers, who are still out there playing cricket seriously, to explore other shores but you also encourage the younger lot to not only think about T20 cricket but also first-class cricket,"  he concluded.