Rahul Dravid explains why he's not convinced about Indian cricketers playing T20 leagues overseas

Ever since India’s defeat to England in the semi-finals of the T20 World Cup, there has been a lot of noise about why the Indian cricketers should be allowed to play foreign leagues, especially the notable ones like Vitality Blast and the BBL. Even in the post-match conference, Indian head coach, Rahul Dravid was asked whether the lack of playing abroad in these T20 tournaments is impacting the Indian cricketers.

Speaking at the press conference, Rahul Dravid said, “I mean, sure, there's no doubt about it, the fact that England… a lot of their players have come here and played. In this tournament, it certainly showed. It's tough. I think it's very difficult for Indian cricket because a lot of these tournaments happen right in the peak of our season.”

He further added, “I think it's a huge challenge for us. Yes, I think a lot of our boys maybe do miss out on the opportunities of playing in a lot of these leagues, but if you were to… it's really up to the BCCI to make that decision, but the thing is it's right in the middle of our season, and with the kind of demand there would be for Indian players, if you allowed all the Indian players to play in these leagues, we would not have a domestic cricket [tournament]. Our domestic [first-class] trophy, our Ranji Trophy, would be finished, and that would mean Test cricket would be finished.”

He concluded by saying, “I know a lot of people talk about it [no Indians in overseas T20 leagues], but we have to be very careful when we… we have to understand the challenges that Indian cricket faces or the BCCI would face in a situation like this. You'd see all our boys… like a lot of boys being asked to play leagues right bang in the middle of our season. We've seen what that's done to West Indian cricket, and I would definitely not want Indian cricket to go that way. It would certainly affect our Ranji Trophy; it would affect Test cricket. Indian boys playing Test cricket is pretty important for the Test game as well, I would think."