File photo of Salman Butt© AFP
England Test captain Ben Stokes’ retirement from ODI cricket has ignited a debate over the sustainability of the 50-over format. Several current and former cricketers have suggested that ODI cricket is at its tipping point. And now, former Pakistan captain Salman Butt has urged the International Cricket Council (ICC) to monitor the number of T20 leagues played in a calendar year. Butt feels that too much T20 cricket might reduce the standard of cricket, and the players might not stay interested in playing international cricket, especially ODIs and Test cricket, in the near future.
“Sadly, it looks like this way. I really pray that apart from leagues, the real legacy of cricket (Test and ODIs), that it does not get finished. The ICC needs to decide how many leagues should be played in a year and who gets to organise these leagues. If there are leagues left, right and centre, then the standard would not be there and the players would not have as much interest in international cricket,” Butt said in a video uploaded on his YouTube channel.
Butt also said that the advent of T20 leagues across the globe has hampered ODI cricket the most.
“It’s because of the leagues. Leagues have reduced the amount of ODI cricket, and the volume of T20 cricket has increased. People were finding it hard to digest T20 cricket and now they have introduced T10 cricket just to get into Olympics. Neither they would call you nor you would go there.
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