The massive sums of money collected by fast increasing Twenty20 leagues around the world, according to Indian great Kapil Dev, should be used to develop and defend Test cricket.
He was speaking on the same day that Cricket Australia announced its five-year strategy, which acknowledged the impact of privatisation and the expansion of T20 leagues on the global cricket landscape.
It Seems As If International Cricket Only Will Be For World Cups: Kapil Dev
Speaking to the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age Dev said that Test cricket is 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?
“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”, Dev said.
“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.”
The World Cup is especially important to Indian cricket fans. Dev led India to an unexpected World Cup victory over the West Indies in 1983, forever changing the face of cricket in India.
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