Domestic T20 the best: Dravid
December 14th, 2011 - 9:34 pm ICT by IANSCanberra, Dec 14 (IANS) India’s batting great Rahul Dravid feels Twenty20 role is best suited for domestic cricket. He has also asked the International Cricket Council (ICC) to cut down the meaningless number of ODIs.
Dravid doesn’t agree with the idea of scrapping 50-over cricket and said ODIs should be restricted only to International Cricket Council (ICC) events like the World Cup or the Champions Trophy.
“There is a proposal doing the rounds about scrapping the 50-over game completely. I am not sure I agree with that — I certainly know that the 50-over game helped us innovate strokes in our batting which we were then able to take into Test matches. We all know that the 50-over game has been responsible for improving fielding standards all over the world,” said Dravid, while delivering the annual Bradman Oration at the Australian War Memorial here Wednesday night.
“The future may well lie in playing one-day internationals centered around ICC events like the Champions Trophy and the World Cups. This would ensure that all 50-over matches would build up for those tournaments. That will cut back the number of one-day internationals played every year but at least those matches will have context. Anything makes more sense than seven-match ODI series. Maybe it’s finally time to do something about it,” he said.
Dravid said if Twenty20 is not handled properly then more cricketers will turn freelancers for lucrative payments.
“The Twenty20 game as we know has as many critics as it has supporters in the public. Given that an acceptable strike rate in T20 these days is about 120, I should probably complain about it the most. The crowd and revenue numbers, though, tell us that if we don’t handle Twenty20 correctly, we may well have more and more private players stepping in to offer not just slices of pie, but maybe even bigger pies themselves.
“The best role for Twenty20 is as a domestic competition through official leagues, which will make it financially attractive for cricketers. That could also keep cricket viable in countries where it fights for space and attention,” he said.
- End 50-over cricket, says England spinner Swann - Dec 01, 2011
- Test cricket deserves to be protected: Dravid - Dec 14, 2011
- England yet to know about their warm-up game opponents - Oct 05, 2011
- ICC to retain DL Method, DRS - Jun 01, 2012
- Pak's holding of Quaid-e-Azam final under lights may revolutionize Test cricket: Miandad - Jan 13, 2011
- Rahul Dravid to quit ODI and Twenty20 cricket after England series - Aug 07, 2011
- It's fantastic to win Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy, says Tendulkar - Oct 06, 2010
- India can certainly bounce back in ODIs: Broad - Sep 01, 2011
- It does not feel like I'm finishing: Dravid - Sep 15, 2011
- Tendulkar wins ICC Player of the Year award - Oct 06, 2010
- ICC cricket committee to re-consider legality of switch-hit - May 28, 2012
- Future of 50-over cricket safe: Lorgat - Mar 23, 2011
- Dravid gears up for his ODI swan song at Cardiff - Sep 15, 2011
- Tait all praise for Rahul Dravid's mental toughness - Sep 17, 2011
- Relentless India poised to extend domination over England to T20 (Preview) - Oct 28, 2011
Tags: australian war memorial, canberra, champions trophy, cricketers, day internationals, doing the rounds, domestic competition, domestic cricket, international cricket council, odi series, odis, oration, pies, private players, rahul dravid, revenue numbers, strokes, war memorial, world cup, world cups