The South African Twenty20 League has attracted participation from some of the most talented players in the globe. Many people are curious about whether or not the Indian Premier League would be able to sign retired Indian international players such as MS Dhoni, Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina, and others now that a number of its franchise owners have purchased teams in the Rainbow Nation.
During a restricted media interaction, the question was posed to the commissioner of the league, Graeme Smith, and he responded in an entirely honest manner, particularly in regard to the potential of signing MS Dhoni.
According to the regulation of the Board of Control for Cricket, a player is not eligible to participate in a Twenty20 competition located outside of India if he has not totally severed all ties with the BCCI.
Even though MS Dhoni has hung up his international cricket boots, he will continue to play for Chennai Super Kings in the Indian Premier League.
Because of this, participating in another Twenty20 league outside of the country is currently out of the question for him.
Smith responded by saying that he respected the BCCI and its regulations when questioned about the potential of signing Dhoni. However, if there is a chance to bring in someone of the calibre of MS Dhoni, Smith would not hesitate to do so.
“Having a player of his calibre would be a dream come true. On the other hand, as I have mentioned in the past, we cooperate with and respect the BCCI at all times.
the fact that we have been able to establish such a pleasant working relationship with them, as well as the fact that we have been able to communicate with them and gain knowledge from them.
To clarify, I mean that they have a great deal of expertise working large-scale events such as the World Cup or the Indian Premier League. In addition, having such a connection before to taking the SAT20 is of critical significance. After giving it some thought, we believe that there are one or two opportunities available to us.
Listen, having a player like MS Dhoni will make everything fantastic. Indeed, what I mean is that we always cooperate with and accept the choices made by the BCCI. I mentioned this already.
And I believe that since we have established such a positive working connection with them, we have been able to converse with them, learn from them, and use them as a sounding board for many other aspects of the situation.
I mean, they have a significant amount of experience in, you know, obviously, you know, doing these kind of events, such as from the point of view of the IPL or the World Cup.
In addition, I believe that having this relationship is really beneficial for SA20. We had a look at it, and we determined that there were either one or two openings. Yeah, look, I think there were prospects from our point of view.
“I think one thing that we really wanted to develop was a lively cricket League that was youthful, on the rise, and extremely competitive, you know.”
Someone with MSD’s level of performance and professionalism would bring a level to the league that we would be pleased to have and would bring a lot of value to our league. He has been able to perform and maintain performance for a very long time and brings a level of professionalism to the league that we would be proud to have.
“Therefore, you should know that if there was ever an opportunity, you would most definitely get in touch with me,” he stated.
When further questioned over the issue, Smith said that he would jump at any opportunity he got to include someone like Dhoni in any form, regardless of the role that they would play.
“Yeah, I’m respectful of them in the sense that I mean it, having competed against and with a good number of them for a good number of years. They are the most successful franchise-based teams in the world, I guess; they know how to run the teams, they know what type of players they are looking for, and, you know, they have been successful in recruiting players and deciding how they want to play. I mean, I guess the thing is that our franchises are very experienced as well.
Because it is a centralised League, I believe that in the end, it will always be up to them to choose which teams to compete in. So, look at it this way.
“We don’t get involved in the selection of teams; instead, we work to provide a platform for as many players as we can, and it is up to our teams to decide who they want to play and who they want to pick for themselves.”
However, you should be aware that from the point of view of some of the names you listed, by which I mean cricketers of the highest calibre, they have been tremendously beneficial to India and the sport as a whole.
According to his subsequent statements, “so, you know, there will always be something that we would look to associate with.”
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