Suresh Raina And MS Dhoni In BBL Clubs' Hit List For Upcoming Season

As Australia gear up to host the upcoming edition of the Big Bash League (BBL), the clubs are looking to recruit some big overseas names thanks to the new rule which will allow all the teams o field three internationals in their playing XIs.

Earlier this week, the Australian Cricketers’ Association agreed to end its opposition to a third international. The new rule will help the BBL to add some much-needed star power to the tournament as most of the big names from Australia will be busy with the home series against India.

The tenth edition of the BBL is scheduled to start in the second week of December. All the clubs will have to find their overseas marquee player soon as the arrivals will have to follow the quarantine rules in place. And while only time will tell which overseas players are recruited by the BBL clubs, Cricket Australia’s official website has mentioned three Indian veterans who could be on the hit list for the BBL clubs.

India legends in BBL clubs’ hit list:

Cricket.com.au believes the BBL clubs could target former India internationals Suresh Raina, MS Dhoni and Yuvraj Singh. Having retired from international cricket, all the three players won’t be having any commitment when the BBL will be underway this year.

Yuvraj had retired from international cricket last year while Raina and Dhoni bid adieu to the game in August this year. But unlike Yuvraj, Dhoni and Raina have not retired from domestic cricket and are unlikely to get the No-Objection Certificate from the BCCI until and unless they announce their retirement from all forms of the game.

Earlier this year, Raina had urged the BCCI to soften its stance on releasing players for overseas T20 competitions like the BBL. While India’s female stars have previously featured in the Women’s BBL, the males have not got the permission for the same.

“I hope the BCCI can get together with the ICC or with franchises and allow players who don’t have BCCI contracts to play in overseas leagues,” Raina had said.

“Yusuf (Pathan), myself, Robin Uthappa – a lot of quality players (could) … go overseas and learn a lot. We aren’t in the BCCI contracts list, some of us don’t have IPL contracts.

“We aren’t playing international cricket, and the competition in domestic cricket isn’t what it is at the international level,” he had added.

Raina has already skipped this year’s IPL and having already retired from international cricket, he will be definitely keen to play in the BBL. On the other hand, Yuvraj is also keen to play in the competition. Last month, his manager had revealed that the southpaw was keen to play in Australia’s premier T20 competition.

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