Former West Indies captain Daren Ganga believes that the T20 franchise leagues across the world attract the current generation cricketers on large scale because of more rewards with less effort policy which prompted them to embark on a career in T20 leagues.
The cricket commentator also said the simple logic of being able to earn more by putting the body through less wear and tear is the biggest reason that’s forcing the current generation on more focusing on becoming T20 specialists in the modern-day arena.
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The explosion of T20 leagues in the last decade has seen a lot of young cricketers forging a career as T20 specialists and Ganga said it is not really surprising, saying no one wants to throw away the opportunity to earn 10 times more money with less damage to the body playing in the franchise tournaments.
Ganga said on Wisden and CricViz's The Greatest T20 podcast: “Human instinct will tell you that if that opportunity (to) earn 10 times the amount of money by putting 10 times less wear and tear on your body, that's the decision that you will make without batting an eyelid.
That is what I think has been the case with a lot of cricketers, not only in the West Indies but across the globe. Like anything else in life, if you dedicate your time, your resources, and you train with a unity of focus in something, you would be able to achieve a fair amount of success.”
West Indies have been one of the most affected teams because of the rise of T20 leagues over the past decade as their leading stars Chris Gayle, Darren Sammy, and Dwayne Bravo have all decided to end their Test careers to participate in the franchise tournaments.
On the other hand, West Indies’ current limited-overs captain Kieron Pollard has not played a single Test.
Meanwhile, Andre Russell who played just one Test and Sunil Narine are primarily playing the shortest format and Ganga said if there had been no T20 tournaments in the world, the two would have played international cricket for the West Indies.
He added, “With T20 cricket, you realize that it's not just about playing T20Is for your national team. There are so many opportunities for players now. Players who don't even go on to play international cricket, they're playing in T20 franchise competitions all across the globe and making a living out of it.”
The 41-year-old signed off by saying, “So, if there wasn't T20 cricket, I still think a guy like Andre Russell or Sunil Narine would have played international cricket for the West Indies, in the 50-over format and even in Test cricket as well. Their focus would have shifted in that area.”
(With IANS Inputs)
