Even as most of India is following the final outcome of the IPL-T20 tournament with bated breath, there comes the good news that the shortest format of the game will rightly be used as a vehicle to spread the game of cricket across the 105 cricket playing nations of the world.
Yes, 105 nations do play the game, making it one of the more popular sports after football across the world.
A media release dated April 26, 2018, quoted David Richardson, chief executive, International Cricket Council (ICC) as stating, “We are committed to growing the game and T20 is the vehicle through which we will do this.”
The media release further added that the ICC Board had decided to give the green signal to all Twenty20 matches between members being awarded international status (T20I) along with plans to introduce global rankings in the format.
This move across both men’s and women’s cricket, is part of the wider strategic aim of using the T20 format to globalize the game. New minimum standards will be introduced making it as easy as possible for members to play international cricket in a sustainable and affordable way.
All member women’s teams will be awarded T20I status on July 1, 2018, while all member men’s teams will be awarded T20I status on January 1, 2019 following the cut-off point for qualification to the ICC World T20 2020. Rankings for women and men will be introduced in October 2018 and May 2019 respectively.
Richardson further said, “We are particularly pleased with the unanimous agreement to award all T20 bilateral games international status and the move to create a global ranking system for T20Is. We are committed to growing the game and T20 is the vehicle through which we will do this and removing restrictions and having all members ranked is a positive step forward.”
Presently, there are 12 full members of the ICC and 93 associate members making it a total of 105 cricket playing nations. Europe leads the continental race with 34 cricket playing nations, followed by Africa (22), Asia (21), Americas( 17) and East Asia-Pacific (11).
Most European nations, which include the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Italy and Germany have national cricket teams playing the T20 format. Ditto with African nations such as Kenya, Tanzania, Nigeria, Botswana, Zambia, Namibia, while in the Americas, cricket playing countries include Canada, USA, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, Mexico, Peru and Suriname to name just a few. Similarly, Middle East cricket teams include, the UAE, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Oman, Qatar and even Israel. In Asia, too, the game has spread its wings to Hong Kong, Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, China and Japan. If that is not all, T20 cricket is also being played in all the three Scandinavian countries of Denmark, Sweden and Norway and even the farthest Nordic nations of Finland and Iceland!
Of course, it is no surprise why so many countries have readily adopted the floodlit-coloured clothing-white ball format. The exciting, three-hour format has been able to immediately compete with the more popular, international team sports like football, basketball, volleyball and rugby in terms of time and retention of spectator interest. T20 has also made cricket extremely, athletic and fast-paced. Today, cricketers playing the T20 format need to be quicker, stronger and more athletic regardless of their role in the team.
Another reason, why T20 is clearly the future of modern day cricket, is the plethora of professional T20 leagues across the world. Almost each of the top ten cricketing nations of the world has a professional league being played in their respective countries. The Indian Premier League (IPL), which has a lot in common with football’s English Premier League (EPL) has also made a significant contribution to the promotion of the T20 format. The IPL attracts the best international players, who spend 45 days playing the sport in India. Not only do the Indian spectators get to view quality cricket, but lesser known Indian players get to hone their skills playing in the company of the world’s best players.
The T20 has also become the preferred format when it comes to multi-national games. At both the 2010 and 2014 Asian Games, the T20 format was used for both the men and women’s events. However, it is unfortunate that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) selfishly refused to send the Indian men’s and women’s teams for both these editions, thereby denying a sporting opportunity for the cricketers and potential medals for the nation.
The Commonwealth Games (CWG) authorities are also keen to reintroduce cricket at the 2022 Durban games in the T20 format and the International Olympic Council (IOC) is also keen to
include cricket in the 2024 Games in France.
