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As one of the major reasons, Kevin Pietersen pointed towards the schedule of the franchise tournaments, spanning across the year.
Kevin Pietersen – Instagram
Kevin Pietersen has shared his opinion about the emergence of franchise cricket in recent years. The former England captain feels international cricket is losing its prominence because of such limited-over competitions.
As one of the major reasons, he pointed towards the schedule of the franchise tournaments, spanning across the year. Considering how fast cricketers gaining interest in these competitions, Pietersen has predicted that “players in a few years will be playing for one ‘super club’. “A Super Club is a club that owns a team in 5/6 leagues across the year,” he mentioned in a post on X (formerly Twitter).
Beginning with the Indian Premier League (IPL), almost every cricket-playing nation has its own franchise competition, most of which are played in the 20-over format. The schedules usually do not overlap to allow the maximum number of players to participate in these events. Indian cricketers, however, are not allowed to feature in overseas franchise leagues.
In his X post, Kevin Pietersen shed light on “Cricket’s Mad Schedule” in 2024. He shared a graphical representation of the major franchise competitions with a significant number of overseas players. As per the stats, a limited-over tournament takes place almost every month of the year.
“This is just all the franchise tournaments. If you add in all international cricket, it’s hard to see how it all works. It’s not the players’ fault at all. Players are lucky to be in this position. Make as much tin as you can before you’re thrown away. International cricket is on its way out. If not, on its way out, but losing its stature. Sad but true,” Kevin Pietersen said.
Cricket’s MAD 2024 schedule!This is just all the franchise tournaments. If you add in all international cricket, it’s hard to see how it all works.1. It’s not players fault at all. Players are lucky to be in this position. Make as much tin as you can before you’re thrown… pic.twitter.com/d8ONMQNSnV
— Kevin Pietersen🦏 (@KP24) October 30, 2024
Kevin Pietersen reckons “Super Clubs will be a way for the next generation to support one team throughout the year.” He further suggested that there should be a dedicated “governing body” that “can protect players from being called mercenaries through smart scheduling and building the global leagues.”
Given the recent popularity of franchise cricket, Kevin Pietersen mentioned, “BCCI at some stage can contemplate allowing Indians players to play in all the major ‘Super Club’ T20 leagues.” He thinks these leagues should be divided into tiers, “just like football.”
“A Super Club schedule can look like this: Big Bash/SA20/IPL/UK league/US league/another IPL later in the year. Tier 2 league: UAE league/PSL/UK league/CPL/Indian league/NZ/SL/Bangladesh,” Kevin Pietersen wrote.
It will be interesting to see if the top boards across the world respond to Kevin Pietersen’s suggestions.
