Aakash Chopra supports Suresh Raina, says players should be allowed to play in foreign T20 leagues

One privilege which no Indian cricketer gets is the chance to participate in foreign leagues. Recently, Indian batsman Suresh Raina during an Instagram live session talked about this. He expressed his opinion stating that players who are not centrally contracted with the BCCI must be allowed to take part in a foreign league. Former Indian all-rounder Irfan Pathan, who was having this conversation with the batsman also echoed his sentiments.

Former Indian cricketer Aakash Chopra has now also shown support to what Raina had said. In one of his Youtube videos, the cricketer turned commentator said that he feels what the left-handed batsman said is absolutely correct.

Chopra pointed out that if Harbhajan Singh and Suresh Raina want to take part in foreign leagues, they should be allowed to. Chopra was also in an opinion that players who do not want to play first-class cricket can take part in foreign T20 leagues.

Suresh Raina should take part in BBL if he wants: Aakash Chopra

“I strongly feel that players without a central contract should be encouraged to play in foreign T20 Leagues. Bhajji (Harbhajan Singh) should go play in CPL, (Suresh) Raina should take part in BBL if he wants. Those who do not play first-class should be allowed to go (participate in foreign T20 leagues),” he said in the video.

There have been speculations that a Big Bash League team had approached the Uttar Pradesh batsman. However, the 31-year-old had to reject the deal as per the rules set by BCCI.

As per the regulations, any Indian player who is either centrally contracted or not is not allowed to take part in any foreign T20 league. Because of this rule, Irfan Pathan had to pull out his name from the CPL draft last year as he had not yet announced his retirement. Off-spinner Harbhajan also had to withdraw his name from the draft for The Hundred.

Former batsman Yuvraj Singh announced his retirement from Indian cricket last year, after which he could take part in Global T20 Canada and T10 league. Therefore, if Raina and other players want to play other T20 leagues, they will have to give up their IPL contracts.

BCCI does allow players to take in County cricket. However, players can only play First-class matches or List A matches, but not the T20 Blast tournament. The tournament is the premier T20 league in England.

Here’s the video: