Indian cricket legend Sunil Gavaskar has reacted to Australian great Adam Gilchrist’s plea to BCCI to allow Indian players to take part in overseas T20 leagues like the Big Bash League and The Hundred.
To keep the players fit and available fresh for India matches, BCCI doesn’t allow its contracted or non-contracted players to take part in any other domestic league.
However, Gilchrist recently urged the BCCI to allow Indian players to play in overseas leagues while expressing concerns over IPL franchises' decision to buy teams in different tournaments across the world.
Reacting to the former Australian cricketer’s comments, Gavaskar said that other countries want Indian players in their leagues just to get more sponsorship while launching a scathing attack on the old powers by saying they can’t just digest success in the world of franchise leagues.
Sunil Gavaskar wrote in his column for Sportstar: “Some overseas former players have said that the Indian players should be allowed to play the Big Bash or the Hundred. Basically, they want their leagues to have more sponsorship, etc.”
He added, “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’.”
The former Indian captain also pointed out that the "old powers" of cricket want Indian players to be available for their leagues but not support staff while many overseas coaches work in the IPL.
Gavaskar further said, “They are talking only about the Indian players being made available for their country’s leagues but not the support staff or others who also can do a wonderful job as the cricketing world has found out over the last half dozen years or so.”
He concluded, “The IPL, for a while, ran the danger of being called the Australian league with not just the Aussie players dominating the composition of the teams but the coaches and support staff too. It’s never a two-way street for the ‘old powers’ of cricket’.”
