Shane Watson feels franchise cricket has brought bilateral series under threat

Former Australia International and current Royal Challengers Bangalore batsman Shane Watson feels that ODI cricket is under threat, because T20 cricket is enjoying more popularity. Watson explains why T20 domestic cricket enjoys so much popularity. Its nature and format is such – it has a semi-final and a final, which induces a lot of excitement among the fans.

But if you talk about bilateral series, there is no such thing. If the series is already won by one of the two sides when two matches are still to be paid, nobody really cares about watching the last two inconsequential games, and in the process, much of the excitement is lost.

“The reason why the public loves franchise tournaments is because there’s a build-up and there’s an outcome – there’s semi-finals and a final. Whereas a lot of the time with international bilateral series – of course you’re playing for your country and you want to beat the opposition – but if it’s a five-match series and you win 3-0, then no one sort of watches the last two games. For the players the series is over. There’s no reason to play those two games,” he quoted.

The crowd factor

Watson also argues that the number of people who throng the stadiums for franchise cricket is far more than those who go to watch bilateral series. He was firm in his belief that the international cricket will come under threat if domestic tournaments keeps enjoying the kind of success they do.

“Just by sheer numbers of the people coming along to the Big Bash, for example – it’s the perfect example – it shows there’s a huge shift in what people want to watch and that’s games with context. Tournaments with context.”

It will be interesting to see if Watson’s open comments and views are taken into consideration by the ICC and if it does something to make bilateral series more interesting.