Guwahati: The Indian cricket board will not allow any player who is currently contracted or retired from the Indian Premier League (IPL) to participate in the upcoming T20 leagues in South Africa and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
This includes players who only play in the IPL and are not permitted to be mentors in these overseas leagues.
It means that while Dhoni is still playing in the IPL, Chennai Super Kings (CSK) will be unable to use star player and icon MS Dhoni as a mentor for the franchise in the South Africa T20 league.
An official of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) told The Indian Express, “It’s clear, no Indian player including domestic players can take part in any other league until he is retired from all forms of the game. If any player wants to take part in these upcoming leagues he can only do so when he cuts off all ties with the BCCI.”
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) official said to national media, “It’s clear, no Indian player, including domestic players, can participate in any other league until he is retired from all forms of the game.” If a player wishes to participate in these upcoming leagues, he must cut all ties with the BCCI.”
When asked about Dhoni’s situation, the official stated, “Then he cannot play IPL for CSK.” He has to retire here first.”
As per reports, Dinesh Karthik had to issue an apology in 2019 after violating a clause of his central contract by attending a Trinbago Knight Riders game in the Caribbean Premier League. Karthik was required by the contract to obtain permission from the BCCI before attending the match.
However, Karthik stated that he went to the dressing room at the request of KKR’s new coach, Brendon McCullum, and that he watched the game wearing a TKR jersey at McCullum’s request.
According to reports, Six IPL franchise owners have teams in South Africa’s T20 league. Cricket South Africa announced in a press release that the owners of the IPL franchises in Mumbai, Lucknow, Hyderabad, Chennai, Rajasthan and Delhi had purchased teams from Cape Town, Durban, Gqeberha, Johannesburg, Paarl, and Pretoria, respectively.
Moreover, five of the six franchises in the UAE T20 league are owned by Indians, three of whom have IPL teams. The Mumbai Indians, Delhi Capitals, and Kolkata Knight Riders have all made investments in the UAE T20 league.
Furthermore, the owners of the Kolkata Knight Riders, the Punjab Kings, and the Rajasthan Royals had previously invested in the Caribbean Premier League.
There was also outrage when former Australian cricketer Adam Gilchrist questioned the absence of Indian players from the Big Bash League. “I’m not criticising the IPL,” Gilchrist said, “but why won’t Indian players come and play in the Big Bash league?” I’ve never received an open and honest response to the question: Why do some leagues have access to every player in the world? There is no Indian player in any other T20 league.”
In response, Indian legend Sunil Gavaskar, without naming anyone, wrote in his Sportstar column, “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. 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’.”
“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. 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,” he added.