Yuvraj Singh’s case an exception; other Indian cricketers won’t be allowed to play in foreign T20 leagues

Yuvraj Singh recently announced retirement from all forms of cricket and soon requested the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to grant the NOC to play in the foreign T20 leagues. Accordingly, he featured in the Global T20 Canada’s second edition which recently concluded and led the Toronto Nationals. The move had relieved many former Indian cricketers as they also hoped to play in foreign leagues.

But the Committee of Administrators (CoA) has cleared that Yuvraj’s case was an exception and no other Indian cricketer will be permitted to play in the leagues other than the IPL. The southpaw though rolled back the clock with his batting at times in the tournament even as Manpreet Gony was the other Indian cricketer to play in the league.

“What happened in Yuvraj’s case was a one-off and we aren’t looking at handing out any NOCs at present for playing in foreign leagues. We discussed the matter, but felt no action is required to be taken on the issue,” a CoA member was quoted as saying by Latestly.

BCCI officials surprised

However, the BCCI officials are left surprised with this CoA’s move. They feel that there should be some consistency and all the players should be treated equally. “There is something called consistency, but clearly not under the current administration in the board. Arbitrary decision making isn’t the way when it comes to players and their careers.

“There might be quite a few former players who are no longer part of the scheme of things when it comes to the Indian team who would have thought of retiring and playing in T20 leagues. This sudden U-turn is unfair on them,” one of the officials said. Another official was of the opinion that if a player is retiring from the game, then he/she shouldn’t be allowed to play anywhere in the world.

“To be honest, you don’t retire geographically. You either retire or you don’t. If some country is permitting retired players to play in T20 leagues, that is an ICC issue. The ICC wishes to be ignorant on such issues. But as far as this U-turn is concerned, it is wrong,” he added.

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