Former India coach Ravi Shastri reckons that T20 format is not meant for bilateral series between international teams and the slam bang style of cricket should be restricted to just World Cup. Shastri, one of the most successful India coaches, also feels that franchise cricket together with a biennial T20 World Cup is best way forward when it comes to shortest format, considering fans’ appetite for it.
Shastri’s comments have come, days before India’s five-mach T20 series against South Africa. “. . . there’s too much of bilateral stuff going on in T20 cricket. I’ve said that (before), even when I was the coach of India, I could see it happening in front of my eyes,” Shastri said.
“It should go the football way, where, in T20 cricket, you just play the World Cup. Bilateral tournaments no one remembers. ”
Shastri, whose tenure as India coach ended last year, said he doesn’t “remember a single (T20) game in the last six-seven years as coach of India, barring the World Cup.” “A team wins the World Cup, they will remember it. Unfortunately, we didn’t, so I don’t remember that either. “Where I am coming from is: you play franchise cricket around the globe; each country is allowed to have their franchise cricket, which is their domestic cricket, and then, every two years, you come and play a World Cup. ”
