Former South African coach and current Mumbai Indians (MI) head coach, Mark Boucher, expressed his hope about the potential involvement of Indian players in the South African League (SA20) in future.

However, Boucher admitted that decisions on this matter might be beyond his authority when he was asked whether he could convince Mumbai Indians' Indian players to participate in the SA20.

Notably, BCCI doesn’t allow Indian players to participate in overseas leagues until they retire from Indian cricket completely, including the Indian Premier League (IPL).

Well, many Proteas legends have expressed a desire to see the Indian stars like Virat Kohli, MS Dhoni, and Rohit Sharma in action in the SA20 before they bid goodbye to the game.

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Mark Boucher was quoted as saying by Hindustan Times, “I think it'll be unbelievable if we got some of the Indian players involved. I don't know, it's probably above my pay grade to make those decisions. I know that a lot of the Indian players don't play in any of the leagues around the world other than the IPL. So maybe that's a BCCI thing. But yes, you're right.”

The MI coach continued, “It would be fantastic to see some of the top Indian players playing in the South African league. It would definitely boost our league to a different level, as I'm sure there might be a lot of other countries that have got their own home leagues that they would love Indian guys to play in their leagues as well.

But as I said, it hasn't happened for whatever reason. It may be maybe in the future. We might see one or two players coming through and playing in these leagues but yeah, I'm not too sure. As I said, I think it's above my pay grade to answer or ask questions of the BCCI.”

Boucher also backed the idea that, similar to how the IPL was hosted in South Africa in 2009 due to India's general elections, bringing SA20 to India in the future could be a "great" idea.

The MI coach added, “I think it's a great idea; I'm not against it. The IPL happened in South Africa, and we can do the same, as both cricketing nations share a great relationship.”

Boucher signed off by saying, “Although the challenges of playing in India will be different, it will still be great. Maybe Graeme Smith (SA20 commissioner) can work on it.”

(With Hindustan Times Inputs)