Table of Contents
Yuvraj Singh, the sixer-king of white-ball cricket, is reportedly in an excellent position to become the first Indian player to participate in Australia’s Big Bash League (BBL).
Australian Cricketers’ Association (ACA) president, Shane Watson, has affirmed that it would be ‘incredible’ to include the former Indian cricketer in the BBL roster.
Even after ten seasons of the BBL, no Indian cricketer has been able to feature in the competition. The BCCI, apex cricketing board in India, has not provided the No-Objection Certificate (NOC) to its players to participate in the foreign leagues.
A professional can only participate in a foreign league after retiring from domestic and international cricket. Yuvi announced his retirement from international as well as first-class cricket last year, after the 2019 ODI World Cup snub.
The Punjab powerhouse helped India win the 2007 T20 World Cup and 2011 ODI World Cup, where was adjudged as the ‘Player of the Tournament’.
He had participated in Canada’s Global T20 league last year and has been eying a place in BBL. Jason Warne, Yuvraj’s manager in W Sports & Media, has confirmed the same.
Many world-class T20 players in India, reckons ‘Watto’
“There is a chance but no Indian players have been able to be released in the past to come and play at the [other] T20 tournaments so that’s a big hurdle,” Watson told ‘The Sydney Morning Herald’ from Dubai. The Aussie all-rounder is currently part of the Chennai Super Kings’ (CSK) campaign in the Indian Premier League (IPL).
Watson has been working in close quarters with MS Dhoni and Stephen Fleming at the CSK camp. Moreover, Watson reckoned that the availability of the Indian players in BBL would be a challenging prospect.
“It would be incredible for them to be able to play in these tournaments. That is the ideal situation. There are so many world-class T20 players in India that aren’t playing for India that could be potentially available to play in the Big Bash and other tournaments around the world. If that’s able to happen, that would make a massive difference,” Watson concluded.
