What’s the story?
Australian all-rounder Moises Henriques has urged the BCCI to release Indian cricketers for the Big Bash League, stating that it would be fantastic to have the likes of Virat Kohli, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and others feature in the competition, down under.
“It would be nice (if) in the Big Bash we start getting a few Indian players over in a couple of teams. Hopefully, the BCCI will start releasing a couple of Indian players.
“I'm sure we would like to see Virat Kohli or Bhuvneshwar Kumar for Sydney Sixers (his team).That would be fantastic,” The Portugal-born cricketer aid.
In case you didn’t know...
Ever since the inception of several T20 Leagues in the world, the BCCI has bee reluctant to provide NOCs for Indian players to participate in foreign competitions. One of the earliest instances of this happened in 2012, when a lot of the Indian players like Dinesh Karthik, Munaf Patel etc were picked to play in the inaugural Sri Lankan Premier League, but could not do so in the end.
The heart of the matter
In February earlier this year, KKR all-rounder Yusuf Pathan looked set to break the hoodoo when the BCCI gave him the NOC to participate in the Hong Kong T20 Blitz tournament. However a few days post making the call, they reversed the decision, with board sources citing that after Pathan had been given the go-ahead, the board had received requests from other cricketers as well, who were keen on playing in the competitions.
Extra Cover: Why Indian players should be allowed to play in T20 leagues other than the IPL
What's next?
The Big Bash League begins in December and in 2017, India are set to tour to South Africa for a full-fledged series and so it does look difficult for Indian players if given the nod to play in the competition this year. However, that should not restrict them from not playing in other T20 competitions like the CPL, that usually happen in July.
Author’s take
Henriques has surely made a valid point here and one that needs to be assessed by the BCCI. Indian players are popular all around the world and many of them will surely have a big role to play in the franchises if picked. It will be interesting to see if the board does listen to him and allow the players to play in the League.
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