MUMBAI: Batsman Robin Uthappa has joined his erstwhile Team India regulars Suresh Raina and Irfan Pathan in urging the BCCI to allow Indian cricketers without contracts to play in overseas Twenty20 leagues.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) bars its men’s players from joining franchise leagues other than the Indian Premier League (IPL).
“Please let us go, honest to God,” Uthappa, who won the World T20 in 2007, told the BBC’s Doosra podcast.
“It does hurt when we’re not allowed to go and play.”
The BCCI rules mean Indian players cannot take part in lucrative competitions such as Australia’s Big Bash League or the Caribbean Premier League, while no Indians have yet been signed for the new Hundred competition in the UK.
However, female players Smriti Mandhana and Harmanpreet Kaur have played in the Women’s Big Bash in Australia and the Super League in England.
“It would be so nice if we could go and play at least a couple of others because as a student of the game you want to learn and grow as much as you can,” said 34-year-old Uthappa, who has played in all 12 seasons of the IPL since it launched in 2008.
Earlier this month, Raina and Pathan had said the BCCI should change its rules on overseas T20 competitions.
The BCCI has not allowed active Indian players to take part in franchise leagues other than the IPL. Those that have done so – Virender Sehwag in the T10 League, Yuvraj Singh in Global T20 Canada – have only done so after announcing their retirements. Last year, Harbhajan Singh signed up for the draft of The Hundred but eventually pulled out in order to continue playing in the IPL.
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