Should Indian cricketers play in overseas leagues? Zaheer Khan has his say

After India lost their semi-final clash against England in the recently-concluded T20 World Cup 2022, many experts cited ‘not playing in overseas leagues’ as the reason behind Team India’s inability to compete properly against the English side.

Notably, after India’s defeat in the semis, head coach Rahul Dravid was quizzed whether India had been at a disadvantage because their players didn’t have any Big Bash League (BBL) experience in Australia, while England’s did. Dravid had agreed that English players had some sort of leverage because of BBL experience, but he denied any possibility of Indian players featuring in other T20 tournaments.

Now, ahead of the recently-abandoned first T20I between India and New Zealand in Wellington, former pacer Zaheer Khan was also asked the same question. The former India fast bowler also echoed Dravid’s take and said there is no need for Indian players to participate in foreign leagues. Zaheer reckoned India has a strong domestic circuit which has been producing a talented bunch of cricketers and the national side has a brilliant bench strength as well.

“I feel there are a lot of processes in place. It’s not about playing only franchise cricket, it’s about going to different countries to learn things. That is something which is important, and you’ve seen with BCCI, with their shadow tours, I think those processes are well in place,” said Zaheer in an interaction on Prime Video ahead of India’s first T20I versus New Zealand on Friday.

“I don’t see any other reason right now for players to go and play in a particular tournament. What you have domestically right now is also a robust structure. So why depend on others? We have more than enough means for producing good players. And you look at our bench strength as well, you can virtually play three line-ups, and they will be able to compete at any level,” he added.

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November 19, 2022 at 02:17PM