T20 Leagues can out shadow international cricket, need corrective steps: Faf du Plessis.
Former South African skipper Faf du Plessis believes that the growing craze of the T20 leagues all around the world is a serious threat to international cricket.
Du Plessis who will take part in the PSL season 6 for Peshawar Zalmi feels that with the league repeatedly growing year by year, it can easily out shadow international cricket in the coming future.
“T20 leagues are a threat for international cricket. The power of the leagues are growing year by year and obviously in the beginning there might be just 2 leagues around the world and now its becoming 4,5, 6,7 leagues in a year. The leagues are just getting stronger,” he said in a virtual media interaction ahead of the PSL.
“I think its important that in future you try and see how its possible both can co-exist because it it becomes a choice moving forward into the future then it can be a real threat for the international game.”
The global body of cricket will have to take some corrective steps to prevent the international game, said the South African Cricket who will feature in the PSL, starting June 9 after getting rescheduled in the UAE.
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“That is a huge challenge. May be in 10 years time cricket will almost be like soccer where you have your world events and in between you have these leagues around the world where players can play,” the veteran South African batsman said.
Citing the reference of West Indies, de Plessis said that the Caribbean cricketers are getting more inclined towards the T20 leagues around the world and not competing in international cricket. The likes of Chris Gayle, Dwayne Bravo opting to play freelance cricket is a big loss for the West Indies Cricket Board.
“If I take someone like myself you go and play 2 or 3 or 4 leagues around the world but I can’t predict the future. There are more and more players…(who want to play in T20 Leagues).
“West Indies probably is the first team that started doing it. All of their guys moved away from international team to the T20 domestic circuit. So the West Indian team lost a lot of their key players. It’s starting to happen with South Africa also,” he said.
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