IN light of the expansion of lucrative domestic Twenty20 tournaments throughout the world, former India captain Kapil Dev has urged cricket’s regulatory body (ICC) to take action to defend the Test and One-Day International formats.

With new contests in the United Arab Emirates and South Africa scheduled to start early next year, the growth of T20 leagues has further squeezed cricket’s already overstuffed calendar.
The ground-breaking Indian Premier League (IPL) is expected to receive an expanded window in the ICC’s upcoming international schedule, and dedicated periods for England and Australia’s domestic franchise-based leagues are also anticipated.

Ben Stokes of England retired from ODIs last month due to the demanding schedule while South Africa cancelled an ODI trip of Australia in January because it conflicted with the start of their T20 league.
To better control the strain of players, ICC has put the onus on member boards to strike a balance between domestic and bilateral cricket. However, Dev said that the ICC has a “greater responsibility” to administer the sport.

“It’s going the way as football in Europe,” Dev told the Sydney Morning Herald on Monday. “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?
“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,” added Dev, who lifted the World Cup as India skipper in 1983. (Telegraph)