T10 Cricket League: 5 reasons why T10 is here to stay

When the organizers announced the T10 Cricket League a few months back, there was a public cynicism about the game's format, the quality, one-sided contents and so on. However, the recently concluded T10 league in Sharjah has reaped good support from fans and players. The organizers are so thrilled with the upshot of the event that they are planning to expand the tournament further to Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

In short, this inaugural exhibition has benumbed every critic. T10 cricket is here to stay. Here are the five key reasons.

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#1 A format for the Olympics

One can argue why T10 could be the format to represent Cricket in Olympics. The attempt to test the 50-over format in the Commonwealth games failed a couple of decades back. Despite ICC's interest to apply for Olympics with a T20 format, the pursuit only reached a dead-end.

However, T10 format takes just 90 minutes. It means three to four games can be played in a day like other Olympic sports. The event could be done in a week's time which would absolutely fit into an Olympic time frame.

Sehwag, who was the sole representation from India, believes T10 is the ideal format that will take Cricket to the Olympics. Sehwag said “I strongly believe that T10 is the future. If the International Cricket Council (ICC) is planning to take cricket to the Olympics, this is the right format for each match finishes in 90 minutes.”

England’s shorter format captain, Eoin Morgan, too, backed T10 for Olympics. “The beauty of this format is that you can start and finish a competition potentially with 10 teams, maybe within the space of 10 days. That makes it so appealing to somebody like the Olympic committee. They want a sport which is short and sharp and entertain the public.”

With more T10 Leagues lined up in the near future, ICC will definitely contemplate the option of having T10 Cricket for Olympics.

#2 Shorter the format, better the entertainment

The Sharjah crowd vindicated that T10 League isn't a one-off event

The attendance at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium proved us one simple fact - no matter what the format is, people want to see sixes and fours flying all around the park. The 15,200 seated stadium was completely occupied on the inaugural day and the final day of the 4-day event. Even, the maiden T20 event hadn't harvested this much attention. T10 has had a grand entry into cricket scheme of things.

The 90-minute format is appropriate for weekday games. It will not extend beyond mid-night like T20 games and the fans can go home early. This event has opened up new ideas like a weekday T10 league, a 20-team EPL type events, etc.

If we project this excitement to the Indian market, the output looks far more interesting. What if TNPL, KPL and to-be-formed Mumbai Premier League become a T10 League instead of a T20 league?

Another unexpected T10 development: Sharjah has just switched on its Christmas lights pic.twitter.com/QgL7sI9AZO

— Paul Radley (@PaulRadley) December 15, 2017

#3 A format for lesser-known players to showcase their talent

Ireland's Stirling impressed everyone with his powerful batting skills

How many of the IPL fans knew about Paul Stirling before the T10 league? The 27-year old Ireland opener is one of the most consistent and aggressive shorter format players for Ireland. Despite his healthy strike-rate of 141 in T20s, he couldn't attract interest from IPL franchisees.

As Eoin Morgan rightly said, Paul Stirling's talent deserves to be viewed by the global audience more often, as witnessed at the T10 League.The T10 league has made sure that there will be a bidding war for Paul Stirling in this year's IPL auction. Like Stirling, some unknown faces like Aamer Yamin, Mohammad Naved overwhelmed everyone in the tournament with their scintillating performances.

Since there are three prime formats of cricket, quite a few superstars will most probably opt out of this format of the game. This will give fringe players a chance to showcase their talent.

#4 International board and players showed enthusiasm

Eoin Morgan was one of the few International stars who participated in the inaugural T10 League

When the T10 League was announced, there were speculations on ICC drafting strict rules not allowing the contracted players to participate in the shortest format of the game. However, various current and former International stars participated in the tournament.

On an interesting note, the league had its backing from the Emirates Cricket Board. ICC also gave the green signal to the tournament. This stimulated the cricket boards of Sri Lanka and Pakistan to back this event as well.

Many T20 global stars like Carlos Brathwaite, Mohammad Amir, Hasan Ali, Eoin Morgan, David Miller decorated the event with their participation. All of them were excited about the prospect of this 90-minute format. Amir felt T10 will help bowlers to improve their skills further while Sehwag was hoping for more Indian representation next year.

Despite being the inaugural edition of the format, T10 league garnered staggering backing from various boards and players.

#5 A chance for Cricket to become a global sport like Football

How about Spain playing high-profile cricket?

One of the fundamental ideas of the International Cricket Council (ICC) is to make the sport global. Only 12 countries have attained Full-member status so far in a sport which has been extremely active since the 19th century. Despite being the second most popular sport in the world, Cricket is dominant in only Asia, UK, Australia and some parts of Africa. It is yet to find its way in North American, South American and Eastern European market.

We have all witnessed what T20 cricket has done for the globalization of the game. Teams like Hong Kong, the Netherlands, Afghanistan, UAE have used the T20 format to come through the ranks. How about further expanding cricket's portfolio? How about popularizing the game in countries like USA, Russia, Germany?

T10 will surely help ICC in their globalizing agenda. This 90-min format will be rightly received in the non-cricketing regions. Promoting T10 league in these regions will help the want-to-be cricketing nations make a fast-track entry into recognized cricket sooner than later.