Don’t see any reason for players to go and play in overseas leagues, says Zaheer Khan
Zaheer Khan has stated that there is no need for the Indian players to participate in overseas leagues amidst the demands of allowing them to play in the foreign leagues. Zaheer further added that India have a robust domestic structure in place and there is no need to be dependent on others.
India were recently knocked out of the T20 World Cup 2022 in the semi final against England with a 10-wicket defeat. The England openers just toyed with the Indian bowlers and ensured a victory chasing 169 in 16 overs. According to many, one of the reasons behind the defeat was not allowing Indian players to participate in the overseas leagues to get accustomed to the conditions on Australian pitches. Rahul Dravid was also asked a similar question after the exit from the T20 World Cup and he had stated that allowing them to play in these leagues will impact domestic cricket.
Former Indian pacer Zaheer Khan has echoed the same sentiment saying there is no reason for Indian players to participate in the foreign leagues as India already have a robust domestic structure in place.
"I don't see any other reason right now for players to go and play in a particular tournament. What you have domestically right now is also a robust structure. So why depend on others? We have more than enough means for producing good players. And you look at our bench strength as well, you can virtually play three line-ups, and they will be able to compete at any level,” Zaheer said, in an interaction facilitated by Prime Video
"I feel there are a lot of processes in place. It's not about playing only franchise cricket, it's about going to different countries to learn things. That is something which is important, and you've seen with BCCI, with their shadow tours, I think those processes are well in place.”
BCCI have been scheduling India A tours over the years to provide youngsters with an opportunity to play against quality sides. Also, the visiting teams play practice matches against India A or state teams before bilateral series against the national side. Ravi Shastri also remarked that there is no need to send Indian players for overseas leagues as they get enough exposure within domestic cricket, IPL and India A tours.
"There is enough domestic cricket for all these players to get absorbed in the system and get an opportunity. Plus, you get these India A tours, you get a lot of these other tours, where at one given time you might have two Indian teams playing in the future, where the opportunity will come for the other lot to go somewhere else whilst India is in another country - to go play and see what you know they can do,” Shastri opined.