T20 still can’t find place in international calendar: Gilchrist

Sydney, Nov 11 (IANS) The Twenty20 format is still struggling to find a foothold in the congested international cricket calendar despite a decade of existence, Australia cricket legend Adam Gilchrist said Tuesday.

Gilchrist, regarded as one of the greatest wicketkeeper-batsmen of all time, believes most of the cricket community was still “confused” by where the shortest version of the game fitted in.

“We’re still sort of learning and, as a broad-brush comment, cricket in general is learning where T20 fits in, where it’s most valuable,” Gilchrist was quoted as saying by the Sydney Morning Herald.

“The Twenty20 Internationals are a bit scattergun and I think we’re still a little bit confused by where it fits in and so on.”

He also questioned the wisdom of staging the Twenty20 World Cup every two years. The next instalment of the tournament will be held in India in 2016 after Sri Lanka won the most recent edition in Bangladesh in April 2014.

He suggested that staging it every four years, like the 50-over World Cup, might be a better idea.

But the veteran of 102 Twenty20 matches said that the domestic T20 cricket in several countries is thriving.

“I see most value in domestic T20 cricket,” the 42-year-old said. “I think the formula’s settled in now (and) really working well.”