The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is set to formulate a retirement policy for Indian cricketers. The issue has gained prominence as some Indian players have been calling time on their international or domestic careers to take part in the overseas leagues.

The case of Vijay Shankar is a prime example. He recently announced his retirement from Indian cricket and almost immediately made himself available for the Lankan Premier League (LPL). Soon after, he was signed by the Kandy Royals for the 2026 season.

Vijay Shankar, of course, is not the only Indian cricketer to have done so. Over the years, several Indian players have taken that route, including Dinesh Karthik, Yuvraj Singh, Unmukt Chand, Praveen Tambe and Irfan Pathan, among others.

In this regard, the Apex Council, which met online on Thursday evening, deliberated on the way forward. It left the matter to the BCCI president and secretary to take a final call on the issue, but broadly, the Board seems to be contemplating setting up a cooling-off of at least five years for a player to be part of Indian cricket once he has played in an overseas league. Under the current policy, no active Indian cricketer - whether an international, or a domestic or an IPL player - is permitted to participate in overseas leagues.

Apart from the retirement issue, the BCCI discussed requests for assistance from the Cricket Board of Maldives and Cricket Fiji. The Board officials also deliberate on the support that can be extended to the two international boards. There was also a pending application from the Andaman and Nicobar Islands seeking affiliation.

There was no mention of the India T20 captaincy issue in the Apex Council agenda and it was not discussed either. In any case, the Apex Council is not the forum to deliberate on selection matters, which is the jurisdiction of the national selection committee.