NEW DELHI: India head coach Rahul Dravid admitted to the fact that playing in the Big Bash League 'certainly' helped England players in their emphatic ten-wicket win over India in the semi-final on Thursday but also asserted that if the BCCI allows the players to feature in the foreign leagues, India's domestic cricket would be under threat.
England produced a clinical performance in Adelaide as Jos Buttler and co. used their experience of playing in Australia's Big Bash League and in the Indian Premier League to perfection in outclassing India.
The likes of English players Alex Hales, Chris Jordan, who regularly feature in the BBL and know the conditions and pitches inside-out, emerged as the stars in England's win over India in the crucial semi-final.
"A lot of England players have come here and played this tournament (Big Bash League). It certainly showed," said Dravid in the post match press conference.
With the BCCI not allowing its players to feature in the foreign T20 leagues, Dravid admitted that a lot of players do miss out on the opportunities and experience of playing in leagues around the world.
As India's peak domestic season falls during the time frame when these leagues are played, the Indian cricket board in the past has given only a handful of players to feature in the leagues outside the country.
Explaining how this can lead to crumbling of an entire cricket ecosystem with the example of West Indies cricket, Dravid said that allowing India players outside would 'finish' domestic cricket.
"I think a lot of our boys may be, do miss out on the opportunities of playing in a lot of these leagues. It's really up to the BCCI to make that decision but the thing is that it is right in the middle of our season and with the kind of demand there would be for the Indian players, if you allowed all the Indian players to play in these leagues, we would not have domestic cricket. Our domestic cricket, our Ranji Trophy would be finished and that would mean Test cricket would be finished.
"I know a lot of people talk about it but we have to understand the challenges Indian cricket and BCCI will face in a situation like this. We have seen what it's has done to West Indian cricket and I would definitely no want Indian cricket to go that way. It would certainly effect our Ranji Trophy, Test cricket and Indian boys playing Test cricket is very important," Dravid said.
India topped Group 2 with four wins out of five matches bur were comprehensively outplayed in the semis against England to get knocked out of the competition.
