R Ashwin has shared his viewpoint on whether Indian players should be allowed to play in the overseas T20 leagues or not. This debate caught fire after India’s semi-final exit from the T20 World Cup 2022, as they lost to England in an embarrassing fashion by 10 wickets.
Many pointed out how England players like Alex Hales and Jos Buttler’s experience of playing in BBL in Australia came in handy for them in the T20 World Cup, which England went on to win, and questioned why the BCCI doesn’t allow its contracted and domestic players to play in overseas leagues.
This stance of BCCI has been right from when the Indian Premier League (IPL) started, in order to maintain exclusivity for its players. But after 15 years of the IPL, many are wondering if the next generation is being starved of the experience, they will get by playing in different conditions overseas in the T20 leagues.
India coach Rahul Dravid was asked about the same moments after the loss to England in the World Cup semis, and explained that the process could dampen the Indian domestic circuit. He said it would take out the talent from domestic cricket leaving Indian cricket devoid of backups for the national team.
While many criticized Dravid for his statement, R Ashwin has come out in support of the former India captain. Dravid explained with India having their domestic season right about the same time when these overseas leagues start, it's difficult for players from the country to participate in those tournaments.
He also cited how the West Indies are struggling with most of their first-choice players opting for T20 leagues over playing for the West Indies team.
"They asked Rahul bhai in the press conference as soon as our game was over. You can't ask these questions as a reaction to losing the game. It's a very unfair question to the coach of a cricket team. So what do you expect him to reply to that question? In fact, he gave a very good reply to that question.
He asked, "If you want Indian players to go and players in these leagues what will happen to our first-class system?" We should understand that the Indian first-class system will be behind from August end or by September end. It will be March when the Ranji trophy final gets over and we will have the IPL as soon as Ranji Trophy gets over.
So if we don't play our first-class cricket, our sample size of players will come down. He felt it that way and replied beautifully. It is an interesting and debatable topic. In fact, many players from other countries have come to India and returned as better players," Ashwin said on his YouTube channel.
At present BCCI doesn’t allow any of its centrally contracted or domestic players to sign with any foreign leagues. Only players who have retired from Indian cricket and the IPL are allowed to go for overseas leagues.
