India legend Kapil Dev has made a very interesting point about the future of ODI cricket, fearing that with the advent and rise of way too many T20 leagues could limit the 50-over formats to only World Cups. Kapil, India's first World Cup winner in 1983, feels the ICC needs to step in and safeguard the interest of not just ODIs but Test cricket as well, else the format, which he feels is 'fading away' already, will merely become an afterthought.
"I think it's fading out. The ICC [International Cricket Council] 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 [during the World Cup]. Is this what we're going to have, the World Cup and the rest of the time playing club [T20 franchise] cricket?" Kapil told The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.
Kapil expressed his views in light of the upcoming Twenty20 League in the UAE, called The International League T20 (ILT20), which will launch in January next year and promises to be the second most lucrative T20 cricket league in the world after the Indian Premier League (IPL). Its maiden edition will clash with another up-and-coming T20 league in South Africa, The Big Bash League and the Bangladesh Premier League. While Kapil, the former India all-rounder, is not strictly against league cricket, he feels too much of it will cause a ripple effect.
"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," Kapil added.
{{/usCountry}}"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," Kapil added.
{{/usCountry}}"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."