BCCI faces backlash for cooling-off period, retired players likely to challenge

The all-powerful Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is all set to issue a diktat against retired players playing in overseas T20 leagues. It will force a cooling-off period for all players before they can pursue careers in other T20 leagues. But BCCI is likely to face legal challenges as the new diktat violates Indians’ constitutional rights of pursuing job opportunities wherever they deem fit.

As a result, Ambati Rayudu, who retired from Indian Premier League (IPL) to pursue a career in Major League Cricket for Texas Super Kings, had to withdraw.

“We’ll come out with a policy to prevent the trend of pre-determined retirement. The office bearers will make a policy and send it back for approval,” BCCI Secretary Jay Shah told reporters after the BCCI Apex Council meeting in Mumbai on Friday. 

Also Read: Ambati Rayudu pulls out of MLC 2023 as BCCI re-thinks retired players’ situation

Yusuf Pathan and Robin Uthappa were part Dubai Capitals in UAE’s ILT20

InsideSport reached out to a few recently retired players on their views on the move. While none of them wanted to come on record to avoid BCCI’s wrath, nobody was happy.

“It doesn’t make sense, to be honest. There are only limited slots available in IPL or domestic cricket. And not everyone is cut out for IPL or state cricket. This cooling-off period absolutely makes no sense. The player will have to wait without playing any competitive cricket,” one of the players who has been in IPL only as a net bowler told InsideSport.

The reason for introducing such a rule is to prevent Indian players from pre-determining retirement. The current rule says a player must retire from all forms of Indian cricket apart from IPL to play in overseas leagues. With SA20, ILT20, BBL, CPL, LPL, MLC besides The Hundred and a proposed Saudi T20 League, players have a lot of options to choose from. The franchises are also ready to pay a hefty amount to secure a deal.

Players likely to take legal route vs BCCI

While Ambati Rayudu is the latest to jump this ship, Unmukt Chand and Smit Patil besides Robin Uthappa and Yusuf Pathan also retired from IPL to play in overseas leagues.

“There will be legal challenges against such a doctrine for sure. How can you stop a player from earning their livelihood? If a player is 36 and retires to play in foreign leagues and let’s say the cooling-off period is for more than a year, doesn’t it mean the player ends his career totally. Who will take him after a gap of a year or two?” another player said.

For now, the BCCI office bearers have not set a period for cooling off. But at the least, it is likely to be 6 months to 1 year. It will force players to take some time off and re-strategise.

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