Srinagar, April 23: The Indian Cricket bBard (BCCI) is planning to finally allow cricketers of a certain age category (U-23) to participate in The Hundred, an initiative of the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), which will start in 2022.
The U-23 age-group players – both capped and uncapped – who aren’t on national duty will be considered to play this tournament. It is to be noted that this is only a deliberation yet and both the boards are nowhere close to confirm the deal.
The Hudred’s inaugural season is ready to begin this English summer.
Furthermore, if all considerations between the boards are met this year, sources say “BCCI may allow a certain category of Indian cricketers to participate in The Hundred,” as per a report in Times of India.
If and when this happens, it will be a big step for the BCCI , which till now has shied away from allowing its active (waged) cricketers to play abroad. The BCCI prefers not to allow its players to play in leagues overseas because the IPL loses certain exclusivity.
Also, it’s a policy decision that BCCI’s associations needs to take collectively discuss, and also because they could afford to.
The whats the reason for the exception for ECB? The IPL now needs to expand. Eight teams being increased to 10 will mean more matches and in turn bigger window.
The BCCI is keen on grabbing the month of March for IPL when the Future Tours Program (FTP) comes into effect.
For this reason, itll require other boards to side with India’s perspective. A quid-pro-quo is the only step forward.
