On 13 October, the International Cricket Council made a decision that is going to change the game forever. We are no longer going to have meaningless bilateral series as cricket’s governing body has come up with a plan to implement the league system in Test and ODI cricket.
After the 2019 World Cup, the top nine Test teams will compete in a league. Each team will have to play six series (three home and away series) for a period of two years. And the the two sides with the most points at the end of the league will face off in a championship final. Each series will have two or more Test matches.
The ODI league will begin in 2020-21. The top 12 teams and the champion of the ongoing ICC World Cricket League Championship will participate in the competition. Each team will have to play eight series (four home and four away series), comprising three ODIs in each series.
At first, the ODI league will be played for a period of two years and then the cycle will be changed to three years per league after the 2023 World Cup. The top 10 sides in the ODI league will directly qualify for the World Cup.
So, will this landmark decision make cricket more interesting or have the administrators missed the trick in a few areas?
More Interest in the Offing
Remember the time when India lost 0-4 in each of the Test series in England and Australia in 2011-12? The losses had only one major impact – dejection for Indian fans and joy for the English and Australians. And it did have some bearing on the ICC Test rankings too.
But losses like that in a league format will certainly hurt more as it reduces the chances for a team to qualify for the final.
If a team is down 0-2 in a Test series, the league format may make the players more determined to turn around the series, since every game counts.
With the exclusion of dead rubbers in cricket, the spectators will have something to look forward to in each and every game as well.
You never know, there may come a situation where India will have to whitewash Sri Lanka in a Test series to make the championship final. Will India be able to repeat their performance (earlier this year) under pressure?
The league format is certainly going to garner more interest and possibly more crowds, fans and TRPs.
Even in the ODI league, each team would like to finish as the best team prior to the World Cup.
India vs Pakistan Still Not Certain
But, there are some loopholes of course. Even with the league format coming in, the BCCI have a way to avoid playing Pakistan in a bilateral series. Each of the teams can choose their opponents.
Presently, the way cricket boards fall into an agreement to set up a bilateral series, a similar structure will be followed in the league format as well. There will be no groups formed in the competition.
India is expected to avoid having a bilateral series with Pakistan, as they can choose six other opponents in Tests and eight other teams in ODIs.
Will Players be Rested For Ashes?
For the recent India-Australia series, Baggy Greens such as Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins were rested for the upcoming Ashes series. Mitchell Starc missed both the ODI and T20 series, while Cummins went back home after the ODI series.
Since the Ashes are a very important fixture in Australian cricket, the team management prefer not to field their best eleven before the Ashes series.
But with the league system coming in and every game at stake, can the Australians afford to rest key players prior to an Ashes series.
Big Issues
As usual the biggest problem that cricket has faced from centuries has been the amount of time for a particular match. It’s five days for a Test or an entire day for an ODI. Hence, if a team has to play six Test series and eight ODI series in the entire competition, then the two leagues are bound to take two-three years to finish.
But the big question is will the fans be able to sustain their interest during a two or three-year period? If India are playing West Indies after a year, the fans will have to go through the score cards of the previous series to know the context of the situation.
And also captains and coaches of the teams keep changing. The team managements need to ensure there is stability on the decision making, only then they can achieve their common goal.
If the leagues have to be shortened to under a year then the teams will have to face lesser opponents in a particular competition.
A former Media Officer for ICC and current media manager of Delhi Daredevils Chandresh Narayanan believes that if the league is shortened then the purpose of having the league system will be defeated.
If a team plays less than 6 opponents, then it defeats the purpose of having a league.Chandresh Narayanan
Positive Step
All in all the league system is a positive step from the cricket administrators. But since the teams are choosing their opponents, the fairness of the league will be in question.
The points system is yet to be decided by the ICC. Once devised, there will be more clarity on how the teams will react to the league and most importantly whether the end result be fair to all teams.
As far as the the length of a league is concerned, the ICC may take a call on the amount of time taken to complete a league according to how the fans react to the new structure.
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