Rahul Dravid's Blunt Response To Question On Team India Cricketers Not Playing Foreign T20 Leagues

After India's loss in the semi-final of the 2022 T20 World Cup against England on Thursday, a lot of scrutiny is underway. A thoroughly professional England annihilated an out-of-sync India by 10 wickets to sail into the World Cup final as Alex Hales and Jos Buttler's relentless hitting mortified Rohit Sharma's clueless attack in Adelaide. The defeat meant India's search for a T20 World Cup title, since winning the maiden event in 2007, continued. India last won an ICC title way back in 2013, when they triumphed against England in the Champions Trophy final.

Since then, India have lost in two ICC World Cup semifinals (2015 and 2019), one Champions Trophy final (2017) and two T20 World Cup semifinals (2016 and 2022) and one T20 World Cup final (2014).

One major question that turned up after India's recent loss was that whether it was time for the BCCI to allow Indian players to compete in overseas franchise leagues. Players from England, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Australia, New Zealand and other major teams compete in overseas leagues. Several experts said it was one of the major reasons behind their good show. However, Indian players only play in the IPL. India coach Rahul Dravid was asked about the subject in the post-match press conference.  

"There's no doubt about it, the fact that England -- a lot of their players have come here and played. In this tournament, it certainly showed. It's tough. I think it's very difficult for Indian cricket because a lot of these tournaments happen right in the peak of our season," Dravid said in the post-match press conference.

"I think it's a huge challenge for us. Yes, I think a lot of our boys maybe do miss out on the opportunities of playing in a lot of these leagues, but if you were to -- it's really up to the BCCI to make that decision, but the thing is it's right in the middle of our season, and with the kind of demand there would be for Indian players, if you allowed all the Indian players to play in these leagues, we would not have a domestic cricket. Our domestic trophy, our Ranji trophy would be finished, and that would mean Test cricket would be finished."

He added that playing in overseas franchise T20 leagues might mean new challenge for Indian domestic cricket.

"I know a lot of people talk about it, but we have to be very careful when we -- we have to understand the challenges that Indian cricket faces or the BCCI would face in a situation like this. You'd see all our boys -- like a lot of boys being asked to play leagues right bang in the middle of our season," Dravid said.

"We've seen what that's done to West Indian cricket, and I would definitely not want Indian cricket to go that way. It would certainly affect our Ranji trophy; it would affect Test cricket. Indian boys playing Test cricket is pretty important for the Test game, as well, I would think."

Topics mentioned in this article

India Cricket Team Rahul Dravid Virat Kohli Rohit Sharma ICC T20 World Cup 2022 Cricket