New Delhi: Team India's World Cup-winning captain Kapil Dev has appealed to cricket's governing body i.e. ICC to take steps to protect the Test and ODI cricket formats amid the global development of lucrative domestic T20 competitions. The growing dominance of T20 leagues has made cricket's already cricketing calendar more stressful, with new T20 leagues in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and South Africa scheduled to debut early next year.
The Indian Premier League (IPL) is set to get a big window in the ICC's next international cricketing calendar, while England and Australia are also expected to get dedicated slots for their domestic franchise-based leagues. In such a situation, the schedule of cricket is going to be very busy and due to this, some players have been forced to leave some formats. England's Ben Stokes quit ODI cricket last month, while South Africa cancelled Australia's ODI tour in January after it clashed with their T20 league.
The ICC has left it to the respective cricket boards to find a balance between domestic and bilateral cricket to better manage the workload of the players, but Kapil Dev said that the ICC has a responsibility to manage the game. Kapil Dev told the Sydney Morning Herald on Monday, "It is going on like football in Europe. They don't play against every country. It happens once in four years (during the World Cup).''
Kapil Dev, who was a great all-rounder said, ''Are we going to play club (T20 franchise) cricket in the World Cup and the rest of the time? Similarly, will the cricketers eventually be playing mainly IPL or Big Bash or any similar league? The ICC will have to invest more time in this to see how they can ensure the survival of ODI, Test cricket and not just club cricket.''
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