Ramiz Raja, chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), raised his concerns due to the increasing franchised form of cricket, which turned it just like football.
He quoted that cricket will suffer downfall if nations continue treating cricket like football. Just like football is played primarily in franchise tournaments, cricket is also adapting more to the franchise format now. Further, he mentioned that:
“There are people who try to run cricket like football. Many nations are already doing it. They will soon realise what they have done when they complete the calendar,” he said.
It has been reported that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has reserved two and a half-month free window for the famous Indian Premier League (IPL) every year in the next Future Tours Program (FTP) 2023-27. England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) and Cricket Australia (CA) are also keen to have separate windows for hosting their franchise T20 tournaments for the coming FTP.
Naseer Hussain, former England captain, also talked about Ben Stokes, who recently announced his retirement from ODI cricket; he said that it was evident that the cricket schedule is now very tiring for the players. ICC keeps filling the gaps in the schedule, and if it continues further, then many players will soon start retiring from cricketing formats.
The Indian Premier League (IPL) has taken over much space due to its extension, which will engage players worldwide for most of the time during the year. Other T20 International and league games are loved by the fans due to their short over format. Test cricket is also loved by everyone almost, which leaves out the ODI format, which is now having a mixed point of view from the experts.
