Calcutta: The technical committee of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Saturday decided to allow state associations to include a foreigner in their squads for the domestic tournaments.

The Sunil Gavaskar-led committee decided to allow associations four ‘guest’ players — from outside the state — in their side.

“One of the four players could be a cricketer from overseas, who has played at least 10 Tests and/or 20 ODIs,” BCCI secretary Niranjan Shah said in a statement.

“However, a maximum of three ‘guest’ players will be permitted to figure in the playing XI at a given point of time.

“The last date for the state associations to register the ‘guest’ players will be September 1 every year,” Shah said.

Incidentally, in 1962, four West Indies fast bowlers — Roy Gilchrist (Hyderabad), Lester King (Bengal), Chester Watson (Delhi) and Charlie Stayers (Mumbai) — were invited to play in Indian domestic cricket.

The committee also deliberated on the amendments in the playing conditions for domestic tournaments and there was a consensus that the original ‘powerplay’ rule be retained in the forthcoming season.

The meeting was attended by Gavaskar, Yashpal Sharma, M.P. Pandove, Snehasis Ganguly, V.K. Ramaswamy, C.R. Mohite, Vinod Mathur, Chinmaya Sharma, Shah, BCCI chief administrative officer Ratnakar Shetty and special invitee Ajay Shirke.