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Do you foresee Indian players shifting to other countries in the near future?


Gollum

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Think of KL Rahul, a potential SRT/Lara level batsman yet can't break into our 1st XI in any of the formats. We can all speculate about the reasons of the continuous snub: jealousy, insecurity, sponsors interfering, BCCI protecting certain players, management politics....yada yada

 

But let's face it, we are slowly reaching a status in cricket where many will feel unlucky to miss out. A cricket mad population of 1.3 billion and still rising fast, yet hardly 20-25 players can wear the India jersey across the 3 formats consistently. Many many talented players will miss out, a few undeservingly so. Even 10 years back we never had this much depth. With a booming middle class population, higher standard of living, change in sporting culture, more $$$, better coaching facilities, more exposure etc we will churn out quality players by the hundreds, world class players by the dozens. Now many will feel that IPL (may have larger space in the calendar in the coming years) can provide fulfilling employment to many local players but do all players have the ultimate aim of only making their names in IPL? Surely many among them would want to play for India, bring laurels to the country, get success in tests/ICC tournaments and cement their names as legends. Look at KL Rahul or even Karun Nair, don't you think they would rather retire with 8000+ test runs and a few WC appearances rather than 10 IPL editions? You can't write your name in golden letters in the annals of cricket history just by being successful in these pyjama leagues? And who is to say, even if KLR shifts base he will be valuable as a foreign recruit in IPL, these IPL owners will surely respect player quality because they are mostly cut throats. 

 

I was also thinking along these lines because cricket is a dying game outside Asia, mainly desis play cricket..baaki sab toh chor ke jaa rahe hai football/rugby/tennis/athletics/basketball khelne. Things will only get worse because cricket is unwilling to expand beyond the tested boundaries. NZ, SA, Aus,Eng, WI are declining gradually, in 1-2 decades time I am pretty sure they will have 40-50% representation of local desis i.e.  each team will have riffraff type players like Sodhi, Moeen, Raval, Tahir, Rashid, Khawaja (not Chanderpaul, Kahnai, Amla, Kallicharan...they were outstanding, not Maharaj because he is a potential world class prospect). I am pretty sure we have better players than these guys who are yet to taste international cricket or left in the lurch by cretin like MSK Prasad. So do you think we will have Indian born and bred players playing for the likes of England and SA in 2026? How long does it generally take to be eligible for selection in foreign teams? Rahul is already 26 now and Kohli-Shastri are unlikely to give him many chances, this may weaken his heart, drag down his confidence and finish him as a player. I am a big fan of KLR and fear that he is facing the same issue in India that KP faced in SA, in fact much worse because unlike KP, our boy has already shown his world class credentials. In stead of working like a ghulam serving chai-Parle G to much inferior, raddi players all his life he can still have a fulfilling career playing for some other team. Not just Rahul, in the future many potential Tendulkars and Kumbles can wield their trade elsewhere, and still be part of IPL. Isn't this how the world is moving? Many talented professionals even on this forum have left the country for greener pastures, why should cricketers not follow suit? Do you think Indians will follow the examples of white Saffer cricketers who left to play for England because of lack of opportunity back home?

Edited by Gollum
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India doesn’t have Kolpak deal like South Africa. Also most of South Africans join English cricket is because of no lucrative deals once they are out of national recokning. India has it covered with IPL. So we are good. To be honest KLR got his chances and he seems to throw it away. Just doesn’t make most out of it. He needs to be consistent.

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Interesting hypothesis. 

 

IMO the answer is - yes.   While the IPL will provide opportunities to many young Indians to make money and hit the spotlight without an India career,  I think we are going to see some of our cricket talent emigrate.  Particularly those who want to play at the international level.

 

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1 minute ago, Ankit_sharma03 said:

Before IPL, chances were high now i doubt but it wont be bad if few of them do 

India is a top team and many above avg player find hard to break in , those players can easily play for other teams as top players 

LOL chances were high? how were the chances high when there is no kolpak deal with India? How many players before IPL left for other countries? matlab kuch bhi :laugh:

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2 minutes ago, kira said:

LOL chances were high? how were the chances high when there is no kolpak deal with India? How many players before IPL left for other countries? matlab kuch bhi :laugh:

by shifting to other country n taking its citizenship (it may take few yrs but its possible) which was always possible and is still

Post IPL, many cricketers are financially secured 

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Just now, Ankit_sharma03 said:

by shifting to other country n taking its citizenship (it may take few yrs but its possible) which was always possible and is still

Post IPL, many cricketers are financially secured 

Lol that takes a lot of time, not enough to make a career out of it, that's why no one did it in the 90s when bcci was a poor board and that's why chances were never high

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1 minute ago, kira said:

Lol that takes a lot of time, not enough to make a career out of it, that's why no one did it in the 90s when bcci was a poor board and that's why chances were never high

i knw it takes time , yet many cricketers around the world do it

we didnt have a huge pool of cricketers in 90s

 

and btw it has happened but not in huge number, so its not impossible 

 

Here is an example of Munish ansari

 

Munish Ansari, known in Indian cricket circles as the ‘Sehore Express’, is a fast bowler from Madhya Pradesh who will be travelling to the T20 World Cup in his native country next year as a crucial member of the Oman side. This comes after he spent years being ignored by India, and even his state side, according to IBN Live.

Oman, who will be making their first appearance in a top-tier world event, qualified for the event by beating Namibia last week, the 33-year-old Ansari picking up three wickets for just 23 runs in the all-important match.

Munish's brother Yunus says that his recent feats bring a lot of pride to the family, but laments how a bowler who was hitting the 145 kmph mark consistently was left on the fringes of Indian cricket.

Yunus said, "Discrimination was the main reason he was not given the chance in the domestic team. Despite being one of the few pace bowlers around, he wasn't considered in the Division team as well and that forced him to leave the country six years back."

Exploits of Munish’s 145 kmph balls

Munish Ansari’s 145 kmph balls are known to have got the better of many famous batsmen during net sessions – his two most famous victims having been Sachin Tendulkar and Andrew Flintoff.

The greatest story heard about Munish’s raw pace, however, is from a contest he had once with Harbhajan Singh – the incident after which he was dubbed ‘Sehore Express’. 

During the finals of a bowling contest, while bowling to Harbhajan, Munish clean bowled him off the very first ball and then followed it up by breaking Bhajji's bat into two with his next. Off the third ball, Harbhajan lost the grip of the bat and it fell a few yards away.

 

Rahul Dravid, Ajay Jadeja and Wasim Akram are known to have sang high praises of Ansari’s showing in Indian nets.

The state and country that do not care

In present times, when Australian fast bowler Gurinder Sandhu has to resort to spin bowling on Indian pitches to stop getting clobbered, the stories revolving around Munish Ansari’s blistering pace makes it seem that India just might have lost out on some raw talent.

Madhya Pradesh are not performing well in domestic cricket recently, but the state’s cricket board does not appear to be very concerned with the loss of one of their players – a player who will soon get a chance to play in a World Cup.

According to the MPCA secretary Milind Kanmadikar, he had no clue that there was a cricketer in MP with the name of Munish Ansari. He said he needs to have more information before giving any statement.

 

 

https://www.sportskeeda.com/cricket/ignored-own-country-madhya-pradesh-pacer-munish-ansari-travel-t20-world-cup-oman

 

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Sunny Sohal- he played in IPL 2009 

 

Sunny Sohal dreamt of playing cricket for his country all his life. Finally, at age 30, he has realised his dream, though in a slightly different way. Instead of donning the India colours, the Mohali boy will wear the US colours, his adopted country. Nevertheless, Sohal is as happy to represent the US as he would have been playing for India. 

 

“I can’t thank God enough. I am absolutely delighted over this opportunity coming my way, and I will give my best to make it count,” Sohal told The Tribune from Washington.

 

For the record, Sohal played the Ranji Trophy for Punjab before he shifted base to the US in 2014. Sohal, who made 1202 runs in 21 first class matches, was an attacking opener and a handy part-time spinner. He represented the country at the U-19 level a few times, and also played in the IPL for Kings XI Punjab and a couple of other franchises.

 

“I wasn’t happy with the chances I was getting back home.  In fact, for about a year before moving to the US, I had almost given up playing cricket,” recalled Sohal. “But then I landed in the US, the land of opportunities, and I was back on the ground, playing and enjoying the game again.”

 

In the US, Sohal started playing in the Washington Cricket League (WCL) for a team called Potomac. Soon, he started dominating it, with both bat and ball. “It’s quite a competitive league. We’ve many current and former internationals, especially from the West Indies and Pakistan, playing in WCL. I’ve been quite consistent, and that has earned me a call-up to the national team of the US,” said the delighted Sohal.

 

Sohal is hopeful about the future of American cricket. “Cricket is being introduced in schools. The cricket federation is making lot of efforts to promote the game, and creating infrastructure is not an issue here. So, I can see cricket coming up in a big way here,” he said. 

 

Not many get a second chance to realise and live their dream. Sohal got it, and he’s grateful: “I couldn’t make it in India, but I will make the most of the opportunity here.” 

 

Link -http://www.tribuneindia.com/news/sport/sunny-lives-india-dream-in-america/528336.html

 

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@Ankit_sharma03 Do you know how long it will take for an Indian player to be eligible to play for Aus, NZ, Eng, SA, WI etc? Even if it is 5 years I think it is worth it. I mean if a player emigrates even at the relatively old age of 25 he can play domestic cricket in that country plus IPL (foreign recruit), BBL, CPL, BPL, PSL, SPL etc. If all goes well at least 5-6 years of international cricket will be possible for such a player which is any day better than getting ignored in India. I pray that if Rahul is continuously overlooked to accomodate hacks any longer, he should seriously consider emigrating. He can at least have a Michael Hussey like career outside India, plus much more $$$ because of many T20 leagues. 

 

Another thing I would like to highlight since you brought that Oman story. I watched the 2016 Olympics and 2014 Asian Games studiously and was impressed by the showing of countries like UAE, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar etc. Once upon a time these countries were hopeless in the games. Moreover in 2014 and 2016 they won many marquee events in athletics like 100m , 200m, middle distance, marathon etc. All medals are prestigious but you will be well aware that events like 100m , 200m and marathon are showpiece events and these Gulf countries even obliterated East Asian heavyweights like China, Japan. I noticed on closer look that majority of these athletes were born in Jamaica, Bahamas, Nigeria, Kenya, Ethiopia, Somalia etc. then I saw a documentary about how these sheikhs send their scouts to look for talent in these countries, hefty sum is paid to make them shift base to Gulf. There they are provided all sorts of facilities like villa, luxury car, best coaches, top training facilities etc. Not only do these countries benefit by improved showing in medal tally (may be a point for the wealthy Sheikhs to brag about in dinner parties) but even the players benefit because they can't imagine such lifestyle and facilities back home. Another docu I saw was related to football, how these sheikhs hire African players to strengthen their football team, process is very smooth. Hence their football teams have many black players and also perform well in at least Asian level competitions. Same they are attempting to do in tennis, squash, chess etc. Last year 2 Chinese and 2 Russian GMs (decent level) changed federations to Oman, Qatar, UAE at prices unimaginable in their home countries. Carlsen was invited to Oman and Anand to Qatar to train their teams, for exorbitant fees. I wonder why they don't try a similar process in cricket. Cricket can't match football and tennis in popularity but certainly better than squash or chess. These sheikhs could easily hire a renegades XI from all over the world and form teams that can possibly compete for the knockout stages of WCs. If such a situation is possible, ICC should encourage it and throw open the doors of ICC to Sheikhdom. These guys know business and know how to splash money, they are hosting the FIFA WC in Qatar, plus tennis in Dubai/Qatar has become huge with all the big guns turning up. I hate how inward looking cricket has always been....so much potential untapped. 

Edited by Gollum
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8 minutes ago, BeardedAladdin said:

Only the mediocre will go abroad. 

 

Indians are the upper caste of cricket. In another country, you'll do the same work for considerably less, and on a smaller stage. 

Players like Smith, Root, Stokes, Cook, etc have annual contracts over a million dollars, more than our Grade A contracts. Ofc you have to take purchasing power and endorsements into equation, Indian top guns do better. But hypothetically if they emigrate and play IPL, BBL, CPL etc they won't suffer a great deal financially. They will still be below Kohli, Dhoni, Rohit etc but above many other. Imagine the plight of a Karun Nair, does he have a place in the side or good contract? Do you think he has any endorsements? He isn't a mediocre player by any means, financially he will do better overseas than India IMO. Plus the added advantage is being able to have a better standard of life post retirement than in India, perks of 1st world countries. Besides I don't think $$$ is the be all, end all for any individual, not just cricket. A sense of achievement holds great value esp for sportspeople, nothing beats playing international cricket and getting 100s/5fers across the world. 

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7 hours ago, Gollum said:

@Ankit_sharma03 Do you know how long it will take for an Indian player to be eligible to play for Aus, NZ, Eng, SA, WI etc? Even if it is 5 years I think it is worth it. I mean if a player emigrates even at the relatively old age of 25 he can play domestic cricket in that country plus IPL (foreign recruit), BBL, CPL, BPL, PSL, SPL etc. If all goes well at least 5-6 years of international cricket will be possible for such a player which is any day better than getting ignored in India. I pray that if Rahul is continuously overlooked to accomodate hacks any longer, he should seriously consider emigrating. He can at least have a Michael Hussey like career outside India, plus much more $$$ because of many T20 leagues. 

I think 5 yrs 

Rahul doesnt have to go anywere, kohli-shastri mngmt will only stay till 2019 . 

Rahul wenever given an oppourtunity shud just pile on runs and soon it wud become hard to ignore 

 

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On 4/22/2018 at 12:09 AM, gattaca said:

India doesn’t have Kolpak deal like South Africa. Also most of South Africans join English cricket is because of no lucrative deals once they are out of national recokning. India has it covered with IPL. So we are good. To be honest KLR got his chances and he seems to throw it away. Just doesn’t make most out of it. He needs to be consistent.

image.png.860b12950a9d8e56398024201dbbb154.png

Look at stats and tell me that he thrown it away...

Yes, for his skillset and standards that statement holds good but someone who is starting his career, that's a good stats....BTW, most of those runs are against quality teams in tough conditions as an opener

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1 minute ago, gakgupta said:

image.png.860b12950a9d8e56398024201dbbb154.png

Look at stats and tell me that he thrown it away...

Yes, for his skillset and standards that statement holds good but someone who is starting his career, that's a good stats....BTW, most of those runs are against quality teams in tough conditions as an opener

Compare that to the next best batsmen in the team

 

image.png.5847b626de809161b0c1a4afc21b6e03.png

 

image.png

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On 4/21/2018 at 11:49 PM, Gollum said:

Think of KL Rahul, a potential SRT/Lara level batsman yet can't break into our 1st XI in any of the formats. We can all speculate about the reasons of the continuous snub: jealousy, insecurity, sponsors interfering, BCCI protecting certain players, management politics....yada yada

 

But let's face it, we are slowly reaching a status in cricket where many will feel unlucky to miss out. A cricket mad population of 1.3 billion and still rising fast, yet hardly 20-25 players can wear the India jersey across the 3 formats consistently. Many many talented players will miss out, a few undeservingly so. Even 10 years back we never had this much depth. With a booming middle class population, higher standard of living, change in sporting culture, more $$$, better coaching facilities, more exposure etc we will churn out quality players by the hundreds, world class players by the dozens. Now many will feel that IPL (may have larger space in the calendar in the coming years) can provide fulfilling employment to many local players but do all players have the ultimate aim of only making their names in IPL? Surely many among them would want to play for India, bring laurels to the country, get success in tests/ICC tournaments and cement their names as legends. Look at KL Rahul or even Karun Nair, don't you think they would rather retire with 8000+ test runs and a few WC appearances rather than 10 IPL editions? You can't write your name in golden letters in the annals of cricket history just by being successful in these pyjama leagues? And who is to say, even if KLR shifts base he will be valuable as a foreign recruit in IPL, these IPL owners will surely respect player quality because they are mostly cut throats. 

 

I was also thinking along these lines because cricket is a dying game outside Asia, mainly desis play cricket..baaki sab toh chor ke jaa rahe hai football/rugby/tennis/athletics/basketball khelne. Things will only get worse because cricket is unwilling to expand beyond the tested boundaries. NZ, SA, Aus,Eng, WI are declining gradually, in 1-2 decades time I am pretty sure they will have 40-50% representation of local desis i.e.  each team will have riffraff type players like Sodhi, Moeen, Raval, Tahir, Rashid, Khawaja (not Chanderpaul, Kahnai, Amla, Kallicharan...they were outstanding, not Maharaj because he is a potential world class prospect). I am pretty sure we have better players than these guys who are yet to taste international cricket or left in the lurch by cretin like MSK Prasad. So do you think we will have Indian born and bred players playing for the likes of England and SA in 2026? How long does it generally take to be eligible for selection in foreign teams? Rahul is already 26 now and Kohli-Shastri are unlikely to give him many chances, this may weaken his heart, drag down his confidence and finish him as a player. I am a big fan of KLR and fear that he is facing the same issue in India that KP faced in SA, in fact much worse because unlike KP, our boy has already shown his world class credentials. In stead of working like a ghulam serving chai-Parle G to much inferior, raddi players all his life he can still have a fulfilling career playing for some other team. Not just Rahul, in the future many potential Tendulkars and Kumbles can wield their trade elsewhere, and still be part of IPL. Isn't this how the world is moving? Many talented professionals even on this forum have left the country for greener pastures, why should cricketers not follow suit? Do you think Indians will follow the examples of white Saffer cricketers who left to play for England because of lack of opportunity back home?

One of my ex-clubmate had shifted overseas many years back because he has got a cricket coaching job abroad. Many Indian cricketers at young age are moving abroad and taking coaching in Dubai, Kenya and other lesser cricketing nations so that they can make a career in cricket away from the competitive Indian cricket. A reason why you see a lot of Indian players in budding cricketing nations. With whatever discussion i had with him and my observation related to budding cricketing teams, the shift had started happening a decade back. There is nothing wrong in this. Cricket is a profession and just like other professionals moved abroad for jobs, cricketers also have moved abroad for cricketing jobs. 

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