Kolkata Knight Riders CEO Venky Mysore believes young Indian cricketers should be allowed to play in overseas T20 Leagues. With T20 leagues mushrooming around the world, the BCCI has been steadfast in its policy of not permitting Indian players to participate in any T20 competitions other than the IPL. Speaking to ESPNCricinfo, Mysore said if the rule was relaxed it would be beneficial for Indian cricket.
“There are at least 22-25 players sitting on the bench of franchises at any time who are capable of doing very well if they were given an opportunity. Obviously, they are not getting chances,” he said.
“If those types of emerging players with immense potential are allowed to go out and play, they might play one tournament and suddenly you discover someone and say 'Wow!'. That will benefit Indian cricket in the short and medium and long run. I'm definitely someone who advocates that.”
Mysore also spoke about how a middle ground needs to be reached between the board and franchises, saying, “I've had several conversations around the subject and it's important to understand the other side of the perspective, which is that by allowing players to go out, where do you draw the line? Recently, some news has come out that the ICC intend to restrict it to three T20 tournaments for every player.
“The balance that needs to be achieved is, how does one also make sure that the windowing is appropriate and optimal so that the domestic cricket season doesn't get affected in any shape or form. After all, huge amounts of investments have gone in by the boards to build infrastructure and build the systems which cricketers come through, and we have all benefited from that in the auction while picking up our teams.”
While Mysore acknowledged the huge contribution that the IPL has made in encouraging young Indian talent who otherwise would not have had a platform to showcase their talent, he also wondered if the board’s decision to not allow players to play in any other domestic T20 leagues results in Indian cricket was “missing out” in the process. He also advocated that the IPL should move from its auction format to a draft system.
“I think the time has come (to move to a draft). Frankly, there have been some conversations offline between franchisees and a couple of us who have been talking about this for a while. It may be appropriate to move away from an auction system now. It was necessary to maintain a level-playing field (in 2008) and everyone was learning on the fly.
“After eleven seasons, every franchise has figured out how to build and run a franchise. Each one has their own style, that's different. But to be able to maintain continuity, connect with the city, connect with the fans, I think it's important to get away from the big auction idea, where everybody goes back and tries to rebuild.
“Rather than that, having some kind of a combination of a draft system and trading and even a loan system like the one introduced this year. All of this will help in empowering franchises to fine-tune and build, while maintaining continuity.”
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