'They are concerned about their cricket'- Sunil Gavaskar gives befitting reply to Adam Gilchrist for questioning BCCI

Batting legend Sunil Gavaskar has said that some foreign cricketers are urging the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to let Indian players participate in their franchise T20 leagues with the aim of attracting more sponsors.

Gavaskar’s remarks came after former Australia wicketkeeper-batter Adam Gilchrist questioned the BCCI for not giving No Objection Certificates (NOC) to its centrally contracted men’s players to play franchise cricket across the globe. Giving a clarification on the same, the 1983-World Cup winner said that the reason why the India cricket board is not allowing their players to participate in overseas leagues is to ensure that their players stay fresh as a part of the workload management taking the hectic schedule into consideration.

 Basically, they want their leagues to have more sponsorship: Sunil Gavaskar

“Some overseas former players have said that the Indian players should be allowed to play the Big Bash or the Hundred. Basically, they want their leagues to have more sponsorship etc. They are concerned about their cricket, which is totally understandable. But when Indian cricket looks to protect its cricket by ensuring that their players stay fresh for their matches and thus restricting them from playing overseas, that is not acceptable to the guys from the ‘old powers,’ Gavaskar wrote in his column for Sportstar.

“They are talking only about the Indian players being made available for their country’s leagues but not the support staff or others who also can do a wonderful job as the cricketing world has found out over the last half dozen years or so. The IPL, for a while, ran the danger of being called the Australian league with not just the Aussie players dominating the composition of the teams but the coaches and support staff too. It’s never a two-way street for the ‘old powers’ of cricket,” he said.

The IPL teams have expanded their market overseas by acquiring teams in the highly-anticipated South Africa T20 league that is scheduled to be held in January and February next year. Moreover, some franchises already have teams in the Caribbean Premier League (CPL).