Ashwin signs landmark deal to play for BBL club

Sydney Thunder have landed one of the "biggest signings in BBL history" with Ravichandran Ashwin to play for the club in KFC BBL|15.

Ashwin, who retired from international cricket during last summer's Border-Gavaskar Trophy series, also called time on his Indian Premier League career last month to become "an explorer of the game around various leagues".

And one of his first stops will be the Big Bash, signing with the Thunder for the second half of the season in January, plus finals if they qualify.

Among the games Ashwin is available for is the Thunder's trip to the Gabba to face Brisbane Heat on January 10, their clash with Melbourne Renegades at Engie Stadium (January 12) and the Sydney Smash at the SCG (January 16) where Steve Smith and Babar Azam are expected to play for the Sixers.

“Thunder were crystal clear about how they’d use me and brave enough to back it. My conversations with the leadership were excellent, and we’re fully aligned on my role," Ashwin said. 

“I love how Dave Warner plays the game, and it’s always better when your leader shares your mindset. I can’t wait to perform for the Thunder Nation.”

Thunder general manager Trent Copeland said it was a "pinch yourself" moment.

"I think it's arguably the biggest signing in BBL history – first Indian legend and an icon of the game," Copeland said.

"He's a very competitive guy but one of the most impressive things has been before I even mentioned a thing about our club, he said, 'I loved what Sam Billings did for you guys last year as the overseas player. And if I was to play there, I would really want to make sure I leave a positive impact on Tanveer Sangha and Chris Green'."

The 39-year-old Ashwin will be the first Indian national men's representative to feature in the BBL and he'll be among only a handful who have played for franchises outside the IPL.

While Indian women's players have long played in domestic leagues around the world, including the Weber WBBL, the BCCI have restricted India's international and domestic contracted male cricketers from playing in T20 competitions abroad. Only retired Indian men's players are allowed to play in overseas T20 leagues.

Unmukt Chand – India's under-19 World Cup-winning captain in 2012 – and Hobart Hurricanes' Nikhil Chaudhary are previous Indian-born men to feature in the Big Bash, but both had emigrated from the country.

Ashwin played 287 games for India across all three formats during an international career spanning almost 15 years before announcing his retirement after the third Test in Brisbane last December.

The champion off-spinner is his country's second most successful Test bowler behind Anil Kumble (619), and eighth highest wicket-taker of all-time with 537 from 106 matches.

Ashwin is the fifth most prolific IPL bowler with 187 wickets during a career spanning 16 seasons and five franchises – Chennai Super Kings, Rajasthan Royals, Delhi Capitals, Punjab Kings and the now defunct Rising Pune Supergiant.

He was part of India's squad that won the ODI World Cup in 2011 and won IPL titles with CSK in 2010 and 2011.

Ashwin is the fourth overseas player signed by the Thunder for the upcoming season – they drafted New Zealand quick Lockie Ferguson and Pakistan spinner Shadab Khan in June while Englishman Sam Billings is contracted until BBL|16.

Ashwin didn't nominate for the BBL's overseas player draft earlier this year having only announced his IPL retirement last month. But he has been granted special consideration by the league's technical committee to sign with the Thunder.

Under league contracting rules, clubs are permitted three overseas players on their primary list each season and a further four as replacement players.

While the rules state replacement players must come from the pool of draft nominees, special consideration can be given by the league's technical committee should a player's circumstances change.

Big Bash Leagues general manager Alistair Dobson said Ashwin's IPL retirement meant there had been a "material change" to his availability.

"There are mechanisms within our player contracting rules that if a player's circumstances materially change after the draft, even if they weren't in the draft, they can still be signed," Dobson told cricket.com.au.

"The technical committee assessed the fact that he'd now retired from cricket in India – international cricket and the IPL – and assessed that was a material change to his circumstance that allowed clubs to contract him even though he wasn't in the draft.

"That's happened before. There's a couple of examples previously in the last couple of years (Nat Sciver-Brunt in WBBL|09 and Martin Guptill in BBL|12).

"It's not an unusual thing to happen given the space between when the draft happens and the season starting."

Once he was granted approval to play in BBL|15, all eight clubs were given the opportunity to engage with Ashwin's representatives.

"From our perspective, we wanted him to play in the BBL," Dobson said. "It wasn't really our concern where that was, and all our clubs were equal in that sense.

"We knew our clubs would be interested, so one of the key things was making sure the clubs all knew that this was a possibility and had to start thinking about how they might get it done.

"Each club had to go through the process of discussing with him and pitching to him depending on their list strategies and salary cap status.

"It's another great sign that our competition's gaining momentum and continuing to grow with some of the names drafted earlier in the year and now Ashwin coming into our competition shows that it's still one of the best."

Copeland added "CA played a huge role for all clubs, not for us specifically, just to get Ashwin to the start line, and then after that, this was a no brainer on our side and many people got on board."