BCCI has done well to allow Indian cricketers participate in English county championship
While some cricket fans are aghast at the thought of ace-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin being rested from the One-Day International team and being allowed to go to England to play for Worcestershire in the county game, it appears to be a reasonable decision by the Board of Control for Cricket in India. This happened after Test batting maestro, Cheteshwar Pujara, spent the first half of his season in England and playing for Nottinghamshire. Pujara is also likely to go back to England. Alongside them, Ravindra Jadeja and Ishant Sharma have also indicated that they would be available to play the last few games of the English domestic cricket season. Even Virat Kohli has said that he would love to play county cricket. The rediscovery of county cricket by India’s international cricketers is the revival of a fine tradition. In the 1970’s and 1980’s, a host of Indian players such as Bishen Singh Bedi, Sunil Gavaskar, Kapil Dev and current Indian team coach Ravi Shastri, had fruitful county cricket careers. In 1992, the northern English county of Yorkshire, famous for English cricket stalwarts such as Geoff Boycott, signed on a 19-year old Sachin Tendulkar as their first overseas player in history. This was supposed to represent a massive opportunity for English county cricket to sell to India, yet other than an occasional spell for some players such as Anil Kumble, who played three seasons in the English domestic game for three different counties over 10 years. Few Indian players have ventured to foreign shores to play their domestic games, and of course few foreign players have come to India.
Partially this is because domestic game has declined in popularity. It is also because of the advent of 365-day a year cricket season. The rise of T20’s leagues across the world, where a whole host of players ply their trade, has also taken a toll on the domestic game across the world. There are Ranji matches in India played to empty stadiums. But the domestic game offers opportunities like no other to familiarise oneself with playing conditions. Many forget that between 1981 and 1983, Kapil Dev spent two seasons in Northamptonshire. Familiarity with English conditions might have played a role in the Haryanvi Hero’s role in lifting the 1983 World Cup and changing India forever. India’s last tour of England, two years ago, was a colossal disaster for a team of superstars and in 2018, India will play a full five-test schedule in England as the world’s leading test side. To be the considered great, this team will need to perform in England next year. And getting some practice in for key players is not a bad thing. Hopefully this will restart the trend of Indians playing in England once more.