India Stars To Play In The Hundred? Report Highlights At "Aligning Interests" Factor

The England and Wales Cricket Board should bring on board the BCCI as a "minority ownership partner" of The Hundred in order to attract Indian players to the tournament, Lancashire CEO Daniel Gidney has said, according to a report. Even though Indian men's players are not issued 'No Objection Certificates' to play outside the IPL, the T20 league owners have expanded their footprint across the globe, and have stakes in SA20 (South Africa), ILT20 (UAE) and Major League Cricket (USA). According to ESPNCricinfo, Gidney believes "aligning interests" would be the way to bring Indian players to compete in The Hundred.

"I think it's possible. If I was the ECB, I'd be talking about perhaps bringing the BCCI in as a minority ownership partner in the tournament as a whole. If you do that, then you are aligning interests," he said.

While Indian men's players feature only in the IPL, the country's women cricketers, including captain Harmanpreet Kaur and Smriti Mandhana, have featured in England's The Hundred and Australia's Women's Big Bash League.

"That is probably your best chance of getting (Indian) players in The Hundred. It comes down to the will, and the individuals on both sides," Gidney said.

"The BCCI have been really successful with protecting their brand and by making sure they don't plan any T20 tournaments anywhere in the world… "If I was the BCCI, then I would have to say I would need a significant incentive to relax the current policy because that has been extraordinarily successful and has grown the IPL into the massive commercial entity that it is," he said.

The report added that the Lancashire CEO was in India recently to finalise a deal with RPSG Group, which will see them acquire a 70 per cent stake in the