Dravid on why Indian players don't play overseas leagues: 'Don't want our players to go the WI way'

Team India faced a disastrous 10-wicket loss in the semi-final of the T20 World Cup to England on Thursday. After restricting India to 168/6 in 20 overs, England rode on unbeaten knocks from Alex Hales (86*) and Jos Buttler (80*) to crush Indian hopes for a second T20 World Cup title. The duo stitched a 170-run opening stand, which is now a partnership record in the tournament history for any wicket; Buttler and Hales went past South Africa's Quinton de Kock and Riley Rossouw's 168-run stand, which also came in the ongoing edition against Bangladesh.

Following the match, Team India's head coach Rahul Dravid attended the post-match press conference as he countered questions surrounding India's disappointing defeat in Adelaide. One of the questions asked to Dravid was on the reason behind Indian players being prevented from playing in overseas T20 leagues; all the men's cricketers in the Indian team only play in the Indian Premier League. While Dravid conceded that playing abroad is an advantage, he also mentioned that it could lead to Test game being depleted within the country's cricketing setup.

"There's no doubt about it that England players have come and played in this tournament (Big Bash League). It's tough, it's very difficult for Indian cricket because a lot of these tournaments happen right at the peak of our season. I think it's a huge challenge for us. A lot of our boys do miss out on the opportunity of playing in these leagues. But it's up to the BCCI to make that decision, but the thing is that it's right in the middle of our season," Dravid said.

"And with the kind of demand there would be for Indian players… if you allowed them to play in these leagues, we won't have domestic cricket. Our domestic cricket, our Ranji Trophy would be finished, and that would mean Test cricket would be finished. We have to be very careful, we have to understand that Indian cricket faces or BCCI faces in a situation like this.

"A lot of boys are asked to play leagues in the middle of our season, we have seen what it has done to West Indian cricket, and I definitely don't want Indian cricket to go that way. It would affect Ranji Trophy and Test cricket and Indian boys playing Test cricket is pretty important for the Test game as well, I would think," Dravid said.