Will India cricketers play in foreign T20 Leagues? Rahul Dravid gives THIS answer

Melbourne, November 11: Rohit Sharma looked desolate as India’s campaign in the ICC T20 World Cup 2022 ended after a defeat to England at the Adelaide Oval on Thursday (November 10).

Nothing really went right for India in the semifinal, as Jos Buttler and Alex Hales gave a proper whipping to the Indian bowlers to lead England to a 10-wicket win.

As for India, some long hours of introspection begins and one question that rung in the air was about the possibility of India cricketers getting a chance to play in the overseas T20 leagues like BBL, CPL etc.

The question was asked since several of the England players play in those leagues and are quite familiar with the conditions in those nations.

But head coach Rahul Dravid cited the practical difficulties for the Indian cricketers to play in those leagues.

“There's no doubt about it the fact that England -- a lot of their players have come here and played. In this tournament, it certainly showed.

“It's tough. I think it's very difficult for Indian cricket because a lot of these tournaments happen right in the peak of our season,” said Dravid at the post-match press conference.

I think it's a huge challenge for us. Yes, I think a lot of our boys maybe do miss out on the opportunities of playing in a lot of these leagues, but if you were to -- it's really up to the BCCI to make that decision, but the thing is it's right in the middle of our season, and with the kind of demand there would be for Indian players, if you allowed all the Indian players to play in these leagues, we would not have a domestic cricket.

“Our domestic trophy, our Ranji trophy would be finished, and that would mean Test cricket would be finished.

I know a lot of people talk about it, but we have to be very careful when we -- we have to understand the challenges that Indian cricket faces or the BCCI would face in a situation like this. You'd see all our boys -- like a lot of boys being asked to play leagues right bang in the middle of our season.

“We've seen what that's done to West Indian cricket, and I would definitely not want Indian cricket to go that way.

“It would certainly affect our Ranji trophy; it would affect Test cricket. Indian boys playing Test cricket is pretty important for the Test game, as well, I would think,” he signed off.