On Thursday, June 15, the International Cricket Council (ICC) planned to take a number of steps to protect international cricket. One of these steps was to limit the number of foreign players in T20 leagues.
But given recent events, it is extremely unlikely that the T20 teams will implement the rule right away.
The move to limit foreign players came after the UAE’s International League T20 (ILT20) and the USA’s Major League Cricket (MLC) let as many as nine and six foreign stars play, respectively. Concerns have been raised by the large number of foreign players in the leagues listed above. As a result, an ICC working group has come up with a new set of rules to protect international cricket.
But, according to a story by Cricbuzz, any decision made about overseas players at the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) Annual Conference in Durban in July is unlikely to affect the MLC and the next ILT20.
In addition, the top cricket council has given both leagues the go-ahead to keep running for the long term. Since the licences have already been given, taking them back could cause legal problems, which is something the ICC would like to avoid.
Some members of the ICC working group have said that the playing team should only have four international or full-member players. Also, any league that doesn’t follow the rules set by the ICC will be called an unsanctioned league.
This means that any player who takes part in these leagues won’t be able to play for any of the current teams or internationally. With this, it’s possible that the players won’t get lucrative offers from the IPL and other leagues approved by the ICC.
Johnny Graves from the CWI, Mubashir Usmani from the Emirates Cricket Board, Warren Deutrom from Cricket Ireland, Nicky Hockley from Cricket Australia (CA), and Arun Singh Dhumal from the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) will be at the meeting in Durban to talk about the issue. Any way you look at it, the MLC and ILT20 will keep the foreign teams they already have, and any changes to the rules will be seen in the future.
India
