Bilaterals to get squeezed for Indian T20 League?
India-South Africa-Gujarat (Image Source: BCCI)
International teams contesting in bilateral series are still close to the heart of the conventional cricket fans. But as per the chairman of the governing body of international cricket, Greg Barclay the bilaterals may get squeezed if the window for the T20 leagues like the Indian T20 League gets longer.
Notably, with the addition of two new teams, the Indian T20 League 2022 expanded to 74 games compared to last season’s 60 matches. The tournament had a window of two months for this year.
Quoting Barclay from his conversation as reported by Firstpost, when asked about how to strike balance between franchise cricket and the international calendar – “It is a good question. There will be an increase in both the scoping scale of some of the domestic leagues like the ITL and possibly some of the others and there will be new leagues. But they are the sovereign domain competitions, they can run as they choose to. But more events, and longer time periods through those events means there is going to be squeeze, we know there are only 365 days a year.”
So, if there are more domestic leagues, that are attracted to players, so something has to go and I don’t think International events, which are there every year, and those events have got more teams, so they are going to take longer, so the bit that gets squeezed are the bilateral arrangements,”- Barclay further added.
However, commenting on the Indian T20 League, he said that he loves the cash-rich league.
“First thing I would say after two years of not being able to travel, it is great to be back in India. And great to have my first back with the ITL-the semis and the final coming up. So, I love the ITL, it is a great competition and I think India and the BCCI have done something quite wonderful with the cricket. It is a spectacle that I am honored to be able to go along and watch and kind of be a part of. Credit to the country,”- Barclay said.
