Former Indian head coach Ravi Shastri believes more cricketers will opt to play in franchise leagues around the globe as only a few cricketers will get a chance to represent the country at the highest level and reckons it will inevitable in the upcoming years as most of the players will choose to go in that direction.
Last week, London Times reported that six English players were offered huge contracts to play for IPL franchises in the global leagues, taking retirement from England Cricket Board (ECB), which came as huge news as the cricketers might be tempted to play franchise cricket rather than playing the International cricket for their country.
Ravi Shastri feels that with the increase in global leagues, more Indian players might go on to play the overseas leagues stating that only 11 players from the entire country can play for India, and said that other Indian cricketers would take up the opportunity to play in the global leagues.
“It is inevitable that cricket will go in that direction because look at the volume of people in this country. There are 1.4 billion people and only 11 can play for India, what will the others do? What do the other 60-70 players do? If they have an opportunity to play cricket globally across different franchises, they will grab that opportunity, it’s common sense,” Ravi Shastri said.
With the rise of Global leagues, IPL franchises have ownership in CPL, SA20, ILT20, and MLC so far and there are also talks going on with Saudi Arabia mulling setting up the World’s richest cricket competition in the world.
Nobody Will Be Able To Deprive Them If They Are Not Contracted By The BCCI – Ravi Shastri
Ravi Shastri said that nobody will be able to stop the Indian players from playing in the global leagues unless they’re contracted to BCCI. As of now, Indian players are not allowed to play in the global leagues, unless they have officially retired from the cricket.
“Nobody will be able to deprive them if they are not contracted by the BCCI. So, what stops them from going?” Ravi Shastri added.
Indian Premier League teams have expanded their teams to global leagues, as Mumbai Indians have teams in SA20, ILT20, and MLC and Kolkata Knight Riders have teams in CPL, ILT20, and MLC.
Similarly, Chennai Super Kings have their stakes in SA20 and MLC, and Delhi Capitals in SA20, ILT20, and MLC. All the IPL teams excluding Royal Challengers Bangalore and Gujarat Titans have at least one team in the overseas league.