Dravid’s BBL admission sums up cricket’s delicate balance

India’s ban on players taking part in overseas leagues, and a consequent inability to win a Twenty20 World Cup since the dawn of the Indian Premier League 14 years ago, may just be the price of Test cricket’s global survival. That was the earnest takeaway of India’s thoughtful coach Rahul Dravid after a night on which England, a team stacked with Big Bash League veterans led by the match award winner Alex Hales and captain Jos Buttler, raced away to a victory that set up a replay of the 1992 ODI World Cup final against Pakistan at the MCG. Cricket’s tectonic plates will be shifting in parallel with the build-up to the tournament decider, as the International Cricket Council board meets to decide on the re-election of the current chair, Greg Barclay, before discussions begin on how to divide up the $US3 billion ($4.5 billion) broadcast rights deal recently agreed with Disney Star. That money comes almost entirely from the enormous size of the Indian market, which has also made the IPL cricket’s biggest commercial property by far. And yet the embargo on Indian players going to overseas T20 leagues such as the BBL is having the counterweight effect of restricting the national team’s array of experience and ability to win trophies.

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