INTERVIEW
Follow UsThe Big Bash League (BBL) last season saw a reduced number of matches, and the days of the tournament also went down, which saw an excellent response from the crowd as they showed up in numbers. It will be a similar set up this season, which is set to get underway from December 15 (Sunday) onwards.
The long tournament, with its extended number of days, made it tough for not only the fans to throng the stadiums but also many overseas players who did not sign up to play. However, that was not the case when former Australia leg-spinner Fawad Ahmed played in the tournament.
Ahmed, who, other than playing five white-ball matches for Australia, has also played for the Perth Scorchers, Melbourne Renegades, Adelaide Strikers and Sydney Thunder in the BBL, feels while the tournament is not what it was a few years ago, it is certainly getting better with the shortened matches and reduced number of days.
"It's not the same as it was. But it's going to get better," Ahmed said in a chat with cricket.com.
"They made it short this year and it's going to be only 42 [43] days and it's going to be 10 games now from 14 games as it was too. Moreover, it was going further than the school holidays as well.
"There were not many people available to come and watch, and you can't, you can't just blame the Australian crowd because it's not like India or Pakistan where it's a one-sport country. People go to watch rugby, swimming, golf, motorsports, everything, you know, boxing, it's everything here you see in this country, and they just can't go to every single cricket match.
"The whole setup, the T20 setup, is changing now. So they, everyone want to just play and, and, and just make money. That's why this T20 good is for cricket, but it's bad in a sense as well. So it's bad and good at the same time."
Likening the BBL to some of the other leagues in the world, the former leg-spinner feels that the Australian T20 competition is still behind the likes of the Indian Premier League (IPL) and the Pakistan Super League (PSL), among other tournaments.
"Standard is good. You play on really good grounds, the crowd is still good, you know, the coverage is nice, and the talent is still good there as well. But again, if the top quality players are not coming, and the international standard players are not playing, it's [BBL] going to be a lot behind. IPL is one of the top leagues, but I think PSL is really good. Then, the 100-ball [The Hundred] is pretty good as well, and even the Caribbean Premier League is very good. So I think it's still behind those leagues," Ahmed reckoned.
Ahmed, who has 90 BBL wickets, also asserted that players not being available to play for their BBL sides because of the Australian Test summer is a matter of concern for the league as it denies the fans a chance to see some of the best in the country in action.
"Unfortunately, the players have to play those Test matches in between, and you won't see your Test superstars play for their Big Bash teams, but they would play here and there one or two games, but it's not about one or two games," Ahmed said.
"People want to watch them for the whole season and, yeah, I don't know how they're going to do it. The school holidays are there as well as the festive season. But there's so many questions there and so many problems to solve and to make it the best, league ever."
The India-Australia Tests might take the attention off the BBL, but Australia, which has one of the richest cricket boards, needs the BBL to flourish to stay relevant. We have seen the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) come up with innovative formats like The Hundred to encourage crowds to come out in large numbers and keep the sport alive, especially in a country where there are other popular sports, as there are in Australia.
It's a conundrum CA face every year. Time will only tell if they can figure out a permanent fix for this.
If you’ve not downloaded the Cricket.com app yet, you’re missing out on our content — big time. Download the App here.
