ICC Plans New Competition With FIFA's Influence (Source: AP/AFP Photos)
Cricket’s highest board, the International Cricket Council (ICC) is eyeing to take inspiration from the Home of Football, FIFA in order to launch a new tournament. More precisely, the tournament, if all goes with the plan, will be very similar to the Club World Cup.
Club World Cup had an expanded format last year, with 32 clubs across six FIFA confederations competed against each other for the prestigious trophy. Just like the other World Cups, it will take once in four years.
There, Chelsea won the competition, defeating Paris Saint-Germain in the final. Now, the ICC, as reported by BBC, took cue from FIFA to have a similar tournament.
ICC Eyes FIFA-Style Blueprint
With so many popular T20 leagues happening all over the world including the Indian Premier League (IPL), the ICC is reportedly considering to have a competition with all top teams. The tournament will be known as World Club T20, and it will be very similar to how FIFA does the Club World Cup.
“One source said the event could be launched in the next couple of years provided a gap in the calendar can be found,” a BBC report read. "A global gathering of franchise executives is scheduled to take place later this year, which could yield further progress."
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Not to forget, there are Big Bash League (BBL), SA20, The Hundred, Major League Cricket (MLC), Caribbean Premier League (CPL) and Pakistan Super League (PSL), among other competions, where famous cricketers from everywhere participate whenever there is an international break.
There was a similar competition before, named Champions League Twenty20 (CLT20), which did not continue after 2014 edition. Last time, it was Chennai Super Kings (CSK) who won it, defeating Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) by eight wickets in the final.
In July 2015, Champions League T20 was formally discontinued after six seasons.
How Can World Club T20 Impact Cricket?
With so much focus on IPL already, a competition such as World Club T20, if it happens once in four years, can bring so much excitement among cricket fans.
Unlike it is happening every year, famous teams from all over the world if collide not so frequently, it will only bring more anticipation among fans to see their favourites go head to head.
The excitement around bilateral series is already not going anywhere up. To make matters worse, only T20Is are the ones where people find so much interest in these days.
Hence, a competition such as World Club T20 can lift cricket fans to turn their attention to the sport much more, just like how they enjoy ODI World Cup. Yes, it happens once in four years as well.
Now time will tell whether the ICC can pull off FIFA-inspired model to cricket in order to unleash a game-changing move.
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