Yuvraj Singh has announced his retirement for first class cricket. But the dashing left-hander is in no mood to hang his kit bag. The former India all-rounder has formally written to the Board of Control for Cricket in India for permission to play in professional T20 leagues around the world.
Yuvraj called time on his glorious international career last week and expressed his desire to play overseas leagues for “fun”.
“He (Yuvraj) wrote to the board yesterday. I don’t see an issue in him getting the nod to play in overseas leagues now that he has retired from international cricket and IPL,” a BCCI source said.
The BCCI has barred active players from taking part in overseas T20 leagues and that is one of the reasons, Yuvraj considered retirement to make himself available for competitions around the world.
Virender Sehwag and Zaheer Khan, who had retired from international cricket, were allowed to be part of the T10 League in the UAE.
Last month, Irfan Pathan became the first Indian player to be included in the Caribbean Premier League draft. He had to opt out eventually as he still r0emains an active first-class player and did not take prior permission from the BCCI. The Board had also withdrawn his brother Yusuf’s NOC for participation in a Hong Kong T20 tournament two years ago.
Last week, Yuvraj had said that he was looking forward to play in foreign T20 leagues.
“I want to play T20 cricket. At this age I can manage to play some kind of fun cricket. I want to go and enjoy my life. It’s been too stressful just thinking about my international career, performing and big tournaments like the IPL,” said the 37-year-old.
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