Former Indian cricketer Ravichandran Ashwin has given his views on the debate between the overload of T20s. Ashwin who has already announced his retirement from international circuit is currently playing various franchise tournaments outside the country. He is set to captain the Dublin based franchise in the upcoming European T20 Premier League. Speaking about this after being named as the captain, Ravi Ashwin said that the European T20 Premier League is a necessary addition in the existing assortment of franchise-based tourneys as the T20 format is here to stay unlike ODIs. Ravichandran Ashwin will captain the Dublin Guardians franchise in the ETPL.

Ravi Ashwin has said that T20 leagues have a role to play in making the sport go global, particularly with cricket featuring in the LA 2028 Summer Olympics. “Look, I think there’s an Olympics that’s going to happen in a couple of years. And if cricket as a game is pretty serious about making it a global affair, the teams in this league will play a very crucial part in enabling that,” said Ashwin.

 

Ashwin also added that T20 cricket will help improve the sample size of players and also provide more opportunities. He believes that the leagues like ETPL can play a huge role in growing the game.

“Our job will be purely on T20 cricket and how it can get better. And if the game has to become global and it has to become an Olympic sport, the shorter the game, the more viable it is. And that’s how it’s going to become much bigger. And you will see a better sample size of players, which is also very critical for several of these leagues which run through the year. T20 as a sport is here to stay. I’m not too sure about ODI cricket,” said Ashwin. He also added that his job will be to give chances to more Scottish, Irish and Netherlands players and develop their game.  

Steve Waugh requests top English players to be part of ETPL

Amsterdam Flames co-owner and former Australian cricketer Steve Waugh said that he would love to see more top players from England in the European T20 Premier League. When asked about top English players not being part of this edition, Waugh said ‘’Well, it wasn’t my choice for that And yeah, it’d be nice to have English players there, perhaps sometime in the future,” said Waugh.

“But we’re looking at developing players in Europe that haven’t had the big opportunities in the past. They really haven’t been able to showcase their skills. And this is what this tournament’s about. “It’d be good to have England have more of a presence in the league. Hopefully, once it’s established, obviously, it’s starting in about eight weeks’ time, everybody will see how great this competition is going to be, the quality, the players, the standard,” Waugh signed off.

The European T20 Premier League is set to be held from August 26 and there will be six franchises fighting for the championship. There are 32 matches that will be co-hosted by Ireland and Netherlands. Ravichandran Ashwin will captain the Dublin side in this tournament.