Champions Trophy could be scrapped
LONDON: The Champions Trophy could be scrapped in favour of staging the World Twenty20 every two years, according to International Cricket Council (ICC) chief executive David Richardson.
Pakistan thrashed India by 180 runs to win this year’s edition of the Champions Trophy, with a worldwide television audience of millions watching the final.
But some officials believe the eight-team event is now too similar to the World Cup which the ICC, controversially, has decided should be contested by just 10 teams from the 2019 event in England.
India are due to stage the next Champions Trophy in 2021 but Richardson warned Monday it was by no means certain the event would go ahead, with the former South Africa wicketkeeper saying future WT20s could feature up to 20 teams.
“What we want to do is differentiate our global events from each other so that they can be standalone and create maximum interest every time the event happens,” Richardson told reporters via telephone on the eve of the ICC’s annual conference in London.
“At this stage, the next Champions Trophy is scheduled for India in 2021. Whether that gets changed, the consideration has been given to changing to two T20s in a four-year cycle which would mean swapping the Champions Trophy for a WT20.
“The fact is that World T20s do attract a lot of interest, they generate significant revenue for the television companies, but most importantly from our point of view they provide us with an opportunity to give more opportunities to more teams.