I fail to see the point. They’re fine playing IPL, say Shastri and Zaheer in response to criticism of Dravid’s position on “overseas leagues”

The majority of veteran cricketers, including Wasim Akram, Anil Kumble, Stephen Fleming, and Tom Moody among others, urged the BCCI to prioritize allowing Indian cricketers to compete in foreign leagues shortly after India suffered another dismal performance in the T20 World Cup. The idea could weaken India’s domestic system, India’s head coach Rahul Dravid explained, and former cricketers Zaheer Khan and Ravi Shastri have both sided with the legendary batter.

Many people brought up the fact that Indian players are at a disadvantage because they do not participate in international leagues like the Big Bash League after the team suffered a 10-wicket defeat to eventual champions England, who had 10 out of 11 players with BBL experience.

After the defeat, when Dravid was questioned about the same matter, he responded that it might be challenging to pull off since these leagues take place while India is in the middle of its domestic season before adding that India would not want to follow the West Indies’ example.

Zaheer, who worked for an IPL franchise Mumbai Indians, who are in charge of developing cricket on a global scale, doesn’t see the point in sending their players to play in foreign leagues when their domestic system is “robust” enough.

“I believe several procedures are in place. It’s about traveling to different nations to learn things, not just playing franchise cricket there. That is crucial, and as you can see from BCCI’s shadow tours, I believe those procedures are in place,” Zaheer said in a Prime Video interview. “At this time, I can think of no other reason for players to travel and participate in a specific tournament. What you now have domestically is also a solid framework. So why rely on other people? We have more than enough resources to create talented athletes. Additionally, if you consider our bench strength, you can essentially use three different lineups and they will all be capable of competing at any level.

In a similar vein, Shastri noted that in addition to the IPL and domestic cricket, the BCCI also organizes India A tours.

All of these players can be integrated into the system and given opportunities because there is enough domestic cricket, according to Shastri. The opportunity will arise for the other team to go somewhere else while India is in another country – to go play and see what you know they can do. Additionally, you get these India A tours and you get a lot of these other tours, where at one time you might have two Indian teams playing in the future. Therefore, there is no need for them to play in foreign leagues; they are perfectly content to play in the IPL and concentrate on domestic cricket. They must participate in Indian domestic cricket matches as well.