India’s out-of-favour batsman Robin Uthappa pleads the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to let cricketers play in overseas T20 leagues. After Suresh Raina’s suggestion in an Instagram Live with Irfan Pathan, Uthappa came in support of the argument.
BCCI doesn’t allow Indian cricketers to play in foreign T20 leagues like Big Bash League (BBL), Caribbean Premier League (CPL), T20 Blast (England), Super Smash (New Zealand), Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) and others. Players have to retire from IPL as well to be eligible to play in tournaments like Abu Dhabi T10 league and GT20 Canada.
The Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020 has been suspended due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Under normal circumstances, Uthappa would have been representing Rajasthan Royals, who picked him for Rs 3 crore in the auction for IPL 2020.
“Please let us go, honest to God. It does hurt when we’re not allowed to go and play … It would be so nice if we could go and play at least a couple of others because as a student of the game you want to learn and grow as much as you can,” the 34-year-old told BBC.
“Ganguly is a very progressive thinking human being, someone who has always looked to take India to the next level. He actually laid the foundation for where India cricket is now. We’re hoping that he will look at this at some point,” he added.
Uthappa is one of the most experienced T20 batsmen in India with 6,504 runs from 248 innings at an average of 28.90 including 37 half-centuries. He is also the eighth-highest run-scorer in the history of IPL with 4,411 runs from 170 innings.