Mark Boucher and Mumbai Indians. (Photo Source: Twitter)

The advent of T20 cricket led to some legends of the game moving to and fro to play in various leagues around the globe. This eventually led to the sharing of great camaraderie between players of different nations coming together on a single platform. As a result, a lot of cricketers have become friends and are willing to participate in each other’s home leagues.

Though the idea is not far from turning into a reality, the stance of Indian players taking part in various T20 leagues apart from the Indian Premier League (IPL) has still remained stagnant. The key reason for that has been the tough stance of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) regarding allowing Indian players to play in some renowned leagues such as the Big Bash League (BBL) along with the newly successful league in the form of the SA20 league of South Africa. Interestingly enough, the former Protea wicketkeeper-batter and current Mumbai Indians (MI) head coach Mark Boucher was asked about the possibility of Rohit Sharma participating in his country’s league in the future.

The question was darted at him during a media interaction in which he participated virtually. Notably, during the event Mark Boucher was asked about the possible participation of Team India and former MI skipper Rohit Sharma playing in the SA20 league after he bids adieu to international cricket and possibly retires from the IPL along with Virat Kohli as well. In his reply, Boucher said that while the idea was quite appealing to him given that IPL franchise owners have stakes in the SA20 league, the possibility of Rohit and Co. playing in the tournament cannot be ruled out in totality.

However, he amply clarified that these matters are directly related to the BCCI and so he cannot answer them with certainty. Notably, as per the Indian board’s clause, players who have already retired from international cricket and the IPL may be issued a No Objection Certificate (NOC) to feature in other leagues around the world. But the currently centrally contracted players especially will not be allowed to play elsewhere. I think it’ll be unbelievable if we got some of the Indian players involved,” Boucher said.

“I don’t know, it’s probably above my pay grade to make those decisions. I know that a lot of the Indian players don’t play in any of the leagues around the world other than the IPL. So maybe that’s a BCCI thing. But yes, you’re right. It would be fantastic to see some of the top Indian players playing in the South African league,” the 47-year-old continued.

“It would definitely boost our league to a different level, as I’m sure there might be a lot of other countries that have got their own home leagues that they would love Indian guys to play in their leagues as well. But as I said, it hasn’t happened for whatever reason. It may be maybe in the future. We might see one or two players coming through and playing in these leagues but yeah, I’m not too sure. As I said, I think it’s above my pay grade to answer or ask questions of the BCCI,” Boucher concluded.

Graeme Smith and AB de Villiers hope MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli will play in SA20 League

Interestingly enough, the SA20 League’s commissioner and the former South Africa captain Graeme Smith had once proposed the exciting idea of former India and current Chennai Super Kings skipper MS Dhoni featuring in the coveted league. However, the legend is still playing in the IPL and will look to defend the title in the upcoming IPL 2024, which is a few months away. Despite this, Smith remains hopeful of persuading Dhoni to help raise the bar of the domestic South African cricketers by playing alongside them.

In the same vein, another former Protea skipper in AB de Villiers had also chimed in recently and backed the idea of Virat Kohli playing his last phases of cricket on the soil of the ‘Rainbow Nation’. Hence, Mark Boucher being the head coach of one of the most popular teams in the world has the advantage of approaching the legends of the game quite easily. Now it will be interesting to see whether Boucher will be able to turn the surreal idea into a reality in the future.