By IANS,
London : International Cricket Council’s (ICC) chief executive Haroon Lorgat said regulating Twenty20 leagues could be the way to bring sense and stability to cricket’s chaotic and unsustainable calendar.
ICC has been struggling to keep the international teams together since the start of the Twenty20 tournaments –Indian Cricket League, Indian Premier League and Stanford series– with many players unable to resist the temptation of lucrative deals that many of them have been offering.
Thirteen Bangladeshi cricketers, including former captain Habibul Bashar, signed up for the rebel ICL last week and the move has put a question mark on the future of the country’s cricket even as it dealt a blow to ICC.
Lorgat feels that the governing body faces one of its greatest ever challenges.
“All these tournaments are springing up and what we are trying to do is regulate them in a more effective way. A private businessman might have different ambitions but we have to protect the game of cricket,” Lorgat was quoted as saying in The Guardian.
Lorgat though sees the positive side of the Twenty20 tournaments. “Out of a difficult situation can come a lot of good.”
“If there wasn’t an interest in the sport there wouldn’t be so many challenges. I would rather come into a scenario where things are moving at great speed, with new forms of cricket and a new audience.”
“Twenty20 is an opportunity that people have spotted they can take advantage of, but that doesn’t detract from what has been agreed by all members that we will not sacrifice nation-vs-nation cricket. Everyone recognises its importance. People are not disregarding it,” he said.
IPL promised Bangladesh a greater share of India’s Twenty20 riches to take them out of the crisis situation.
Bangladesh would be allowed to field a team in the Champions Twenty20 League and they would have greater opportunities, too, in the IPL, with their best players put up for auction.
“The world is a changed place. We have to learn to adapt. To say that the ICC is a mess is unfair. The ICC is a member-based organisation. People must understand that.”