IPL, other 20-20 formats pose a grave danger to Test cricket's future: Hadlee

Wellington, Aug.18 (ANI): Former New Zealand fast bowler, Sir Richard Hadlee, has warned that Twenty20 cricket events like the BCCI-sponsored Indian Premier League (IPL), pose a very grave danger to the future of Test cricket, and adds that the game's decision makers are betraying the sport in their quest to maximise profits.

Hadlee, one of the game's great all rounders, said he feared the spread of Twenty20, and particularly the Indian Premier League (IPL).

"I think Test cricket needs to be protected, because it remains the ultimate game and I think a lot of players today would say they enjoy Test cricket more than anything else," Hadlee said.

Congested match schedules, the growth of Twenty20 and the filthy rich financial rewards offered to players required the International Cricket Council (ICC) to put in placer tighter controls, he added.

"We are in grave danger of having the decision makers betraying the game of cricket. Everything evolves and things keep changing, but this is a revolution within the game of cricket. It's new, marketable, successful and brings in huge money. The danger is overkill, that you have too much of it, and it swamps other forms of the game and compromises them," the Daily Telegraph quoted Hadlee, as saying.

"If one format of the game like Twenty20 consumes the game as much as it is doing now - and potentially in the future - it is destroying the game of cricket as a total concept," he added.

"The IPL is franchise cricket, it's club cricket, it is not international cricket," Hadlee said.

Hadlee made his comments during a nationwide tour to promote his latest book - Changing Pace - which he spent the past nine years putting together.

A meticulous planner in his playing days, Hadlee unsurprisingly was a habitual note taker after he retired, meaning his recall is sharp and accurate.

Now 58, he remains an unabashed cricket purist, hence his concerns about the future of the traditional game. (ANI)