Venky Mysore feels BCCI should allow Indian players to play in other leagues
Venky Mysore, the chief executive officer of the Kolkata Knight Riders, has asserted that the BCCI should allow emerging Indian players to participate in domestic Twenty20 leagues overseas. Mysore also felt that the IPL governing council should take the call to replace the auction with a draft.
The BCCI has never allowed Indian players to participate in overseas leagues, primarily to protect the IPL as well as other domestic competitions. However, CEO of KKR, Venky Mysore feels differently and he stated that the IPL had done wonders for young Indian players over the past decade, but things would only get better if they were allowed to play in overseas T20 leagues. Mysore laid particular emphasis on those Indian players who don't get much game-time during an IPL season and spent a large part of the tournament in the reserves.Â
"There are at least 22-25 players sitting on the bench of franchises at any time who are capable of doing very well if they were given an opportunity. Obviously, they are not getting chances. If those types of emerging players with immense potential are allowed to go out and play, they might play one tournament and suddenly you discover someone and say 'Wow!'. That will benefit Indian cricket in the short and medium and long run. I'm definitely someone who advocates that," Mysore said on ESPNcricinfo's Talking T20 podcast.
Mysore said that he understood the challenges which came with such an allowance for Indian players but added that franchises and the board had to have meaningful conversations and find a middle ground. As a franchise owner working in both the IPL and the CPL, Mysore felt that the IPL had reached a level of maturity now for it to move to a draft system to acquire players, instead of the current auction system. While acknowledging that the auction was necessary to maintain a level-playing field at the inception of the IPL, Mysore felt that the time was now right to ensure continuity and connect more with the cities franchises are based in.
"I think the time has come (to move to a draft). Frankly, there have been some conversations offline between franchisees and a couple of us who have been talking about this for a while. It may be appropriate to move away from an auction system now. It was necessary to maintain a level-playing field (in 2008) and everyone was learning on the fly. After eleven seasons, every franchise has figured out how to build and run a franchise. Each one has their own style, that's different. But to be able to maintain continuity, connect with the city, connect with the fans, I think it's important to get away from the big auction idea, where everybody goes back and tries to rebuild.
"Rather than that, having some kind of a combination of a draft system and trading and even a loan system like the one introduced this year. All of this will help in empowering franchises to fine-tune and
