The discarded Indian batsman, Gautam Gambhir, who was the brand ambassador of the Indian Junior Premier League (IJPL) which was started two months ago in Delhi has been forced to withdraw from the league. The League was promoted by the Delhi-based businessman Dinesh Kapoor, which was more of a talent hunt campaign for the boys aged 14 to 18.

After knowing that Gautam Gambhir is associated with the league, BCCI was quick to send out a notice to Gambhir, who withdrew from the league later. But the sources close to Gautam Gambhir pointed towards the double standards of the board, citing the example of M.S. Dhoni, who has also promoted private leagues in past, “Gambhir decided to promote a league knowing that he wasn’t contracted with the BCCI at the time but was sent a notice immediately. MS Dhoni had promoted the UAE-based Masters Champions League (MCL) and had sent out a video message supporting the league despite being the India captain. But the BCCI had no objection to that,” the source said.

“Rhiti Sports, the company associated with Dhoni, also bought a team in the MCL but it all conveniently went unnoticed. Gambhir’s association despite the fact that he doesn’t have a contract with BCCI right now turned out to be a problem,” added the source pointing towards the double standards of apex board.

According to the board’s constitution, a contracted player cannot deal in any private cricket leagues. Indian players are also not allowed to participate in the private or foreign leagues. They have to take special permission from the board in order to do so. As a result, we have seen only a few players playing any of the tournament or league outside India.

Gambhir was recently called in the Indian team after a period of two years but the veteran failed to cash upon the comeback opportunity and with Indian team already going in the with at least three openers in each game, his chances of making a comeback looks impossible.