The apex council has authorised the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) office-bearers to decide on the participation of India’s retired players in overseas leagues.
As per the existing policy, any cricketer, who is contracted with the Board, is allowed to feature in overseas T20 leagues only after retiring from all formats of the game, including the Indian Premier League (IPL).
But with the emergence of several leagues - most of which are backed by IPL franchise owners - there’s anticipation that more and more players, who are not in the India reckoning, could announce early retirement and feature in those leagues.
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A lot of India internationals feature in overseas tournaments after retirement, the recent being Ambati Rayudu, who is now part of a T20 league in the US, shortly after announcing retirement.
Though the apex council discussed the issue, it was decided that the office-bearers will assess all the aspects, seek legal guidance if needed and then decide on the Board’s plan of action, possibly by the next apex council meeting.
BCCI secretary Jay Shah told reporters that the Board will decide the policy in a month or so and then send it back to the apex council for approval.
“We will be coming out with a policy to prevent the trend of pre-determined retirements,” Shah said on Friday.
There’s a possibility that there could be a mandatory one-year cooling off period or a mandatory No Objection Certificate to prevent the players from featuring in an overseas league straightaway after retirement.
Even Article 1.2 of the IPL code of conduct states, “All Players and Team Officials shall continue to be bound by and required to comply with the Code of Conduct until three (3) months after the termination of his or her contract or other arrangement with a Franchisee and BCCI shall continue to have jurisdiction over him/her under the Code of Conduct thereafter in respect of matters relating to the League taking place prior to that point…”
While the current players are not allowed to feature in overseas leagues, several retired players - including Robin Uthappa, Pragyan Ojha, Yuvraj Singh - have featured in global franchise leagues in the past.
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While Amol Muzumdar is set to take over as the head coach of the Indian women’s team before the team leaves for the Asian Games, interviews will soon be conducted for batting and bowling coaches.
Afghanistan series rescheduled to January
Shah also informed the media that India’s home series against Afghanistan, which was scheduled to be held in June, will now be held in January next year. He also said that the Board’s new media rights deal for bilateral matches in India will be effective by August-end.
“It will start with the series against Australia,” Shah said.
India will play three ODIs against Australia before the ODI World Cup, followed by five T20Is after the ICC event.
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