Players being lured by the growing number of T20 leagues is a short-term phenomenon as ultimately “only a few” financially sustainable leagues will survive, former India captain Sourav Ganguly said on Monday. With the T20 leagues springing up all over the world, players are starting to prioritize franchise cricket over national duty. The Big Bash League, an established product, has just come to an end as inaugural competitions are currently underway in the UAE and South Africa.
A competition is also scheduled in the United States later this year. However, Ganguly said that in the long run, only competitions with an ecosystem will survive.
“We keep talking about the leagues around the world, if you look at the IPL it’s in a different ecosystem and a different league, the Big Bash in Australia is doing very well, The Hundred is doing very well in the UK and I see the South Africa league is doing very well, I’ve been watching it for the past three weeks,” he said at a Sportstar event here.
“The common thing about all these competitions is that they are in countries where cricket is popular. So I believe it will come on the scene over a period of four five years, but there will be very few of them and I know which ones are will be.” .
“Certain (leagues) will stay and some will disappear because players will realize it’s not that important. Right now they’re new and everyone wants to be part of them, so you see the rush.
“But eventually it will return to a phase where the country will be as important as the league because only a few will survive because of the ecosystem. Zimbabwe was a force to be reckoned with in world cricket in the 90s, but cricket has declined in the country amid administrative difficulties,” said Ganguly.
“It has a lot to do with administration (teams struggling in international cricket). I keep saying I was president of CAB for five years and then president of BCCI for three years and represented India in the ICC. I have the entire structure and support system that makes the game possible,” he said.
“I remember playing my first World Cup in 1999, Zimbabwe could beat anyone. I’m sure Zimbabwean cricket didn’t have much money then, even India didn’t have that much money.
“The West Indies, days of Michael Holding, Andy Roberts and Joel Garner, where was the money? There wasn’t. Administration is very important to retain the players.
“If the relationship between players and managers is good, many problems can be solved. Cricket has a lot more money now, I don’t think money is the problem. It is necessary to retain the players to play for the country.” .”
(This story has not been edited by DailyExpertNews staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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