IPL to hurt Test cricket in the longer run, believes http://www.senore.com/Cricket/R-Dravid-c2229 – Cricket News Update
The legendary Indian batsman and former captain, Rahul Dravid, thinks that franchise cricket will damage the game in the long run and fears for the importance of Test cricket in the years to come.
Since the inception of the Indian Premier League (IPL) in 2008, it has changed the priorities of budding cricketers. There are many T20 specialists coming through the ranks of domestic cricket all around the world, which was not the case before the cash-rich
league.
There has also been an on-going debate in the cricketing fraternity about the future of the game as some believe that Cricket’s fate will be similar to football's, as franchises will gain more importance over international teams over time.
Dravid, who is considered to be one of the greatest Test batsmen of the modern-day sport, feels that IPL may not hurt the game in the short-term but the ‘wall of http://www.senore.com/Cricket/India-c750’ is sure that franchise cricket will start to hamper international cricket in about ten
years time.
There are a number of quality young batsmen in India at the moment, who Dravid believes, grew up watching the five-day format. The former Indian captain is of the opinion that the standard of batting will deteriorate as more and more young boys will start
playing the game by watching IPL.
"People like http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Manoj-Tiwary-c1890, or whoever the youngsters are, have grown up watching and idolising Test cricket," he said.
"It's the kids like Samit [Dravid's son, 7] who will have grown up watching the IPL. That will be the challenge. What will those kids want? I don't see this as an immediate problem. I see it as a long-term issue."
Dravid has no doubt that international cricket should remain the pinnacle of the game and franchise sport should not be taken for more than its entertainment value.
"By long term I mean ten years, when those kind of kids grow up, what will their aspirations be? If one of the young kinds wants to play, will he want to play for a franchise?" the former Indian captain added.
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