TimesofIndia.com in Durban: At a time when off-field matters are taking center stage a month before the men’s T20 World Cup gets underway, former India cricketer Robin Uthappa has diverted attention back to the game. On the sidelines of his commentary stint at the ongoing SA20, Uthappa questioned the need to host an ICC tournament every year and asserted the novelty of the multi-nation events is wearing off. “I think the game needs to evolve from the administrative perspective. How much value do fans and audiences hold for an ICC tournament every year? The novelty of it is wearing off, to be very honest and with all due respect,” Uthappa said.
ODI World Cup in 2023, T20 World Cup in 2024, Champions Trophy in 2025 and now back to the T20 World Cup, which gets underway on February 7. There has been a men’s multi-nation event every year, and Uthappa felt there is a need to revisit the scheduling to ensure “novelty” of the tournaments remains intact. “I think the novelty of the ICC Championships must be there. It’s an integral part, not just for the players but also for the fans, also for the viewers. It has to mean something. There has to be a little bit of a gap. We can’t have or shouldn’t have an ICC championship every year. That is the hard truth that I think the administrators have to look at and face and look at evolving the game in a way where it’s actually moving towards,” he added.Uthappa is on commentary duties for the ongoing fourth edition of the SA20, and a visit to Durban for the contest between Durban’s Super Giants and Pretoria Capitals brought back memories of the 2007 T20 World Cup bowl out vs Pakistan. “Durbin brings back a lot of memories. I go back to 2007 all the time. Every time I come here, I look at that dressing room on the other side and I just think of all the wonderful things that, you know, we created here, the wonderful memories we created here. It was. It was a special time,” Uthappa said.The former India batsman was one of the players who participated in the bowl out, and comfortably hit the target. India ended up winning the tie-breaker and also the group stage fixture vs arch-rivals Pakistan.“I was on the pitch today just having a look before the pitch report and obviously reminiscing about the time when I actually bowled there. It was certainly a lot of fun. We did a lot of preparation for it, which we don’t really kind of talk about, but I think we were better prepared than the opposition team on that night,” he recalled.
