Writing in the Daily Mail, David Lloyd discussed how the Indian Premier League was disrupting Test cricket.
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The former England cricketer and head coach – who until recently was a member of Sky Cricket‘s commentary team – cautioned against the prospect of IPL being extended. The 2022 edition of the tournament features 10 teams – expanded from eight – for the first time since the 2011 tournament and will include 74 matches (up from 60) and will take over two months to complete. The 2019 tournament – the last uninterrupted edition held in its entirety in India – took place over seven weeks. The overall increase in duration is two weeks, or 28.57 per cent.
“Jarrod Kimber and Neil Manthorp had a chat on talkSPORT on Friday about the prospect of the Indian Premier League being extended,” said Lloyd.
“The alarm balls should be ringing. Already, South Africa’s full attack is not available for upcoming Tests against Bangladesh, and New Zealand have 12 men ruled out of selection versus Afghanistan [Netherlands].”
Lloyd was referring to South Africa’s IPL players taking part in the T20 league over Tests (which carry World Test Championship points) at home. South Africa – with a full-strength line-up – lost an ODI against Bangladesh for the first time at home on Friday. In New Zealand’s case, they are without 12 IPL-bound players for their series against Netherlands.
He finished by saying: “Make no mistake, the IPL is disrupting the traditional international programme.”
The mega-million dollar T20 league and its money power have often been blamed for many of cricket’s problems in the past. The legendary Gary Sobers said in 2015 that the IPL and T20 tournaments destroyed West Indies cricket. Recently, David Gower attributed some blame on the IPL for England’s disappointing Ashes series result.
