Kapil Dev urges ICC to ensure survival of Test and ODI formats amid dominance of T20 leagues – Firstcricket News, Firstpost

The rise of the T20 format, both in international cricket as well as with the mushrooming of franchise-based leagues across the world could very well be viewed as a threat to the Test and ODI formats.

This is all the more so with the cricketing schedule getting more congested than ever and players having to pick and choose their assignments and more often than not, opting for the shortest format and the big bucks that it offers.

Such is the workload of the modern-day cricketer than some, such as England Test captain Ben Stokes, end up retiring from one format in order to focus on the others despite still being in their prime years.

Legendary India all-rounder and former captain Kapil Dev joined the debate on the dominance of the 20-over format and how it’s affected the relevance of the 50-over game — that has been in existence in international cricket for the past five decades with the 50-over World Cup still considered ICC’s marquee event.

The 1983-World-Cup-winning captain added that the ICC had the responsibility to safeguard both the ODI and Test formats with the sport set to embrace several more T20 leagues in the near future.

“The ICC has a bigger responsibility how to manage this game. It’s going the way as football in Europe. They don’t play against each country. It is once in four years. Is this what we’re going to have, the World Cup and the rest of the time playing club cricket?” Dev told Sydney Morning Herald.

While the IPL remains the most popular and the richest T20 league in the world, one that played a major role in the shift of power from Australia and England to India and making BCCI the most powerful board in cricket, others such as the Big Bash League (BBL), Pakistan Super League (PSL), The Hundred and the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) have also established themselves in the scene.

And with the UAE-based International League T20 as well as Cricket South Africa’s proposed T20 league set to hit the market in the next one year, the schedule is going to get even more crowded and will only toughen the challenge that ICC faces today.

“In a similar way, will cricketers eventually be playing mainly the IPL or the Big Bash or something like that? So the ICC have to put more time into that to see how they can ensure the survival of one-day cricket, Test match cricket, not only club cricket.

“Club cricket is ok for a while. The Big Bash is ok. But the South African league is coming, the UAE league is coming. If all the countries are going to play the club cricket, then international cricket will be only for the World Cup,” Kapil added.

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