After India’s T20 World Cup exit, Anil Kumble suggests BCCI allow young players to participate in foreign leagues

Former India captain Anil Kumble wants the BCCI to allow its young players to participate in different T20 leagues around the globe to gain exposure and experience before the 2024 World Cup to be held in the West Indies and the United States. Since the emergence of the Indian Premier League in 2008, many countries have started their own T20 leagues including Australia’s Big Bash League (BBL), Pakistan Premier League (PSL), Caribbean Premier League (CPL) etc. However, while the overseas players are welcomed in the IPL, the BCCI doesn’t allow any active Indian cricketer to participate in these foreign leagues. ‘‘I think exposure certainly helps. We have seen that with the kind of development that it has had on Indian cricket. For example, the IPL, where overseas players come in, and the kind of changes we’ve had in Indian cricket has certainly helped. ‘‘In terms of giving an opportunity to a young player to go overseas and have a crack, then why not?’’ Kumble was quoted as saying by ‘ESPNCricinfo’. ‘‘I think it’s important that you need to have everything that you need to do that come 2024, you are well prepared to take on a World Cup event.’’ Several Indian players had entered the tournament without the experience of playing in Australia. On the other hand, the likes of Jos Buttler and Alex Hales utilised their extensive experience of playing in the BBL to hand India a 10-wicket drubbing in the T20 World Cup semifinal on Thursday. This was despite the fact that England did not play a single game in Adelaide throughout the tournament. Kumble opined that India need to be more flexible in their batting approach and line-up. ‘‘The other thing that I also feel that needs to come into this team is the flexible approach to batting or the batting order. ‘‘Because in T20s, I certainly believe there is no fixed batting order. You have to be flexible in the way you are going to go about using your resources,’’ Kumble said. The former leg-spinner feels the team management should go back to the drawing board and first identify the brand of cricket India will play in the future and select the youngsters who fit in the plan and provide them exposure to succeed. ‘‘And likewise, if you identify the brand of cricket that we are looking at and then identify these key young players who you believe need those exposures, then why not? I think that’s important.’’