BCCI To Introduce Cooling Off Period For Retired Players Looking To Join T20 Leagues: Report

The development comes after there have been multiple cases of Indian players announcing retirement and then almost immediately going on to play in the T20 Leagues.

The BCCI will discuss the duration of this cooling period during its Apex Council Meeting on July 7.

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The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is mulling to frame a policy for the Indina players who announced their retirement in order to play T20 leagues around the world. While there is no such policty as of now, the Indian Cricket Board is apparently keen on having one such policy. This is because they want the introduction of of a cooling period in place for the players who retire from Indian cricket and then play in the T20 leagues. Right now, there is no such cooling off period and players can play in the leagues a week after announcing retirement. 

As per a report carried out by Cricbuzz, the BCCI will discuss the duration of this cooling period during its Apex Council Meeting on July 7. Such a period would meant that a player would have to wait for a minimium duration after retiring before they are eligible to feature in the franchise leagues. The development comes after there have been multiple cases of Indian players announcing retirement and then almost immediately going on to play in the T20 Leagues.

Some of the former players, it is being reported, were offered lucrative contracts to participate in these tournaments. However, the BCCI thinks all of this could lead to a problem in the future and thus want a cooling off period set for the players announcing their retirement. This way the BCCI might able to prevent from players to announce their retirement after getting lured by a productive offer elsehwhere. Some players might not mind the wait either, leading to an interesting situation.

Other than the abovementioned, whether the Board will be sending its men and women's team for the Asian Games 2023 in China will also be discussed in the meeting. If indeed BCCI agrees to send it's men's team. it will be a second-string side most probably led by Shikhar Dhawan. A full-strength squad, however, is expected to be available for the Women's  side.