The BIG Cricket Debate

The first edition of the Champions League T20 was inaugurated to follow two successful editions of the path-breaking Indian Premier League. The success of the shorter version of the game in the franchisee format has made people ask some serious questions about the future of the game.

1. Is the ODI format dying a slow death?
2. Would the club T20 format with the ridiculous amounts of money lure players away from international cricket?
3. Is the way in which ICC trying to run the game sustainable?

Now, if the ICC does not take steps soon, then definitely ODIs would die a slow death. But any cricket lover would not want that to happen. The T20 matches might be exciting, but it is mostly played in single gear with slam-bang approach being the only one that seems to work. ODIs provide the teams a lot more opportunity to make a comeback in a match, gives the batsmen opportunity to build an inning, the bowlers to work to a plan which sadly is absolutely missing in T20 cricket.

The IPL is too young to judge whether the players would start taking early retirements to play in the IPL but the signs are present that it is bound to happen. Look at the example of cricketers (especially the Aussies) who in the past have tried to prolong their careers to play till the age of forty, taking retirement at the ages of 35-36. There are also examples of cricketers turning down central contracts to be a free agent and some players openly admitting that the future financial stability is important. So, if the ICC remains stubborn about its FTP and does not accept the impact of these cricket leagues, these things would then become more of a routine rather than an exception.

The ICC has let the Boards of different countries run the game of cricket for the last century and a quarter. The tours are negotiated by the boards and the ICC provides support to the tours by proving the matches with umpires and referees. It is time the ICC stands up and realizes its responsibility of running the game. There should be order in the World cricket calender which is random to say the least. There need to proper schedules to tournaments and more organized championships.

As every person in India claims to be a cricket expert, I would also like to give my 2 cents about what I feel is the way forward.

1. Create a window for the IPL and ask all the boards involved to hold their T20 tournaments in the same window. This would solve a number of issues.
-Players play only for one franchisee and not for multiple ones as is the case with a number of players in the present Champions League T20 where a number of players are playing against their team-mates.
-The remainder of the year can be used to play proper international cricket and the Tests and the ODIs could be saved.

2. Create a window for all the ICC tournaments from the ODI World cup, Champions Trophy and the World T20. Also, freeze the formats of these tournaments. At present none of the above two things happen. e.g. The T20 World Cups till date have taken place in September 2007, June 2009 and the next is scheduled in April 2010. Where is the order to that. The ODI World Cups have tinkered with the formats too much with the Semis/Finals format in 1992, to QF/SF/Final in 1996, the Super Six format in 1999 and 2003, to the disastrous super eights in 2007 to finally going back to the QF/SF/Final format in 2011.

3. Create a model for a test championships. As a spectator, my feeling is that at present Test cricket is just played to increase the volume of records in the ICC history books rather than having a meaningful reason to play. The ICC rankings have only made us evaluate how the teams are performing and have become nothing more than statistic. A test championship, maybe spread over two years could be the answer to having more meaningful cricket and maybe could save the Test format of the game.

4. Promote the franchisee format of cricket in the T20 format. This wold help the game to spread to wider geographical boundaries. Unofficial cricket leagues are already running in countries like USA and Russia. Why is the ICC not grabbing this opportunity. No international sport is surviving on the international format. To sustain the game the clubs format needs to be adopted. ODIs and Tests matches cannot survive in the franchisee format. So, continue having ODIs and Tests in the international format.

All these points mentioned seem to be the way forward to me. It is time for the ICC to remove its blindfold and realize the massive opportunity it has to make Cricket a truly international game.