Published: Jun 07, 2021, 05:24 PM (IST)
Edited: Jun 07, 2021, 05:24 PM (IST)
South Africa star Faf du Plessis is very much a regular and a key man in T20 Leagues over the world and his record in the limited over format speaks for himself.
In a virtual media interaction ahead of the resumption of the Pakistan Super League, the South African, who’ll be featuring for Peshawar Zalmi made a bold statement that T20 leagues can endanger the essence of international cricket.
“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 it’s becoming 4,5, 6,7 leagues in a year. The leagues are just getting stronger,” opinionated the Chennai Super Kings man.
“I think it’s important that in future you try and see how its possible both can co-exist because it becomes a choice moving forward into the future then it can be a real threat for the international game.”
Faf also believes that like cricket, one of the most popular games in the world, football will also have the same fate in the future.
“That is a huge challenge. Maybe 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 seasoned batsman said.
The versatile batsman said that it has already been done in practice, citing the example of the West Indies team, where some of the best players are giving more time on the domestic circuit of the t20 game. As a matter of fact he has also said that even the Proteas men have also started joining the bandwagon.
“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 the 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.
