Former India opener Robin Uthappa has shared his views on the cooling-off period for retired Indian cricketers to play in overseas franchise league tournaments. The Board of Control for Cricket in India is pondering to apply a cooling-off period for retired players which would prevent them to join overseas leagues right after their retirement. However, no official decision has been taken yet.
Uthappa played in T10 League in Zimbabwe and UAE’s ILT20 League in the UAE after announcing his retirement from international and IPL cricket last year.
The former Chennai Super Kings batter called the colling-of period uncomfortable and unfair.
“I think it is human nature to feel uncomfortable about it. We do not have any central contract with the BCCI, we are not playing cricket in India anymore so it certainly does make you feel a little uncomfortable and unfair for sure,” Uthappa replied to a PTI query during an interaction organised by Jio Cinema.
Uthappa feels that communication between the BCCI and players might help to reach an ideal solution as de admitted that the board has looked after all the players well.
“Having said that, the BCCI has certainly looked after all of us. I am certain whatever decision they take will be in the best interest of the BCCI and the players who are going to play in the IPL.
“There are certain solutions that can be reached. If there is a possibility of communication, we could reach a solution that suits everybody.”
Uthappa said the approach of the team management and leadership would determine India’s fortunes in the shortest format, as a new-look side under Hardik Pandya is auditioning with the next T20 World Cup less than a year away.
Talking about India’s T20I team, Uthappa suggested that the team management have to take a call whether they want a young team or looking for a combination of youth and experienced stars.
“We do have a problem of plenty. There are enough people to represent the country, the quality is really high. Sometimes when you have high quality players you can have a headache, which a lot of other countries do not have,” Uthappa said.
“It is (about) how we decide to navigate through it, as a team management and what is the approach the team’s leadership group has, will be critical to India’s success in the coming years in shortest format.
“Do they want to back the youth? Do they want a combination (of young and senior players)? They need to figure out which way they are going to go,” he added.
Uthappa, who played 46 ODIs and 13 T20Is, said India must address the issue of having a long tail.
“They do have an issue to address in the lower-middle order because after No 7 we have a very long tail. That seems to be an issue that needs to be addressed immediately. Outside that, our spin bowlers are world-class,” he said.
“For a lot of these young boys, this tour to the West Indies, they do not know the conditions well because they have had a very little exposure to those conditions. A little patience needs to be exercised, so that they understand how each wicket on each island plays,” Uthappa added.
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