Former Australian Test captain Allan Border has been a strong critic of franchise cricket. In his opinion a T20 league is nothing but a way fill pockets with hefty amount of money. Border had already backed the world games, the T20 World Cup, should be prioritised over leagues like IPL.
“I’m not happy with that. The world game should take precedence over local competition. So, the World T20, if that can’t go ahead, I don’t think the IPL can go ahead. I would question that decision it’s just a money grab, isn’t it, that one?” Border had told ABC.
“The World T20 should take precedence, for sure. The home boards should stop their players going to the IPL if that’s the case,” he added.
As the series down under is getting closer, Border, who is an ardent admirer of Virat Kohli, believes that the Indian skipper can keep the Test cricket, the true form of the game, alive.
“He [Kohli] is an antagonist and plays aggressively. It is up to players like Kohli and teams like India, England and Australia to keep Test cricket alive from the growing threat of franchise cricket,” Border said.
“We were hoping his baby would be born in Australia so that we can claim him or her to be an Australian!,” quipped the former Australian test captain.
The 65-year-old strongly believes that Kohli’s absence in the last three Tests will favour Australia’s chances of regaining the Border-Gavaskar trophy, which commences from 17 December in Adelaide.
“The one thing that is in Australia’s favour is Virat Kohli playing only the first Test. I think that is a big ‘out’ for India. He is irreplaceable at the moment as a batsman and a leader. Should be 2-1 to Australia,” Border said.
