The United Arab Emirates will introduce a new cricket format when international stars Shahid Afridi of Pakistan, India’s Virender Sehwag, Sri Lanka’s Kumar Sangakkara and England’s Eoin Morgan feature in a ‘T10’ league in December.
The ten-over-a-side matches will run for about 90 minutes (45 minute each side) in Sharjah, the details of which were announced on Tuesday.
Former Pakistan captain Misbah-ul-Haq and the world’s top-ranked Test all rounder Shakib al Hasan will also feature in the tournament.
Twenty20 cricket was introduced in England in 2003 while the first international T20 match was held between Australia and New Zealand at Auckland in February 2005.
Since then the format has helped grow the popularity of the game through the introduction of a World T20 tournament as well domestic leagues like the KFC Big Bash League and the Indian Premier League.
And the new league’s president Salman Iqbal believes an even shorter format has legs.
“Everyone has played T10 cricket on the streets and this will give more fire to cricket and will be a big step forward and people will definitely enjoy it,” said Iqbal.
The tournament will be swift, lasting just four days from 21-24 December.
Afridi, who retired from international cricket last year said he was thrilled at the idea.
“When I was told of the idea I was thrilled and requested that I want to play,” the leg-spinning all rounder said.
England’s current one-day and Twenty20 captain Morgan was confident that T10 cricket will have an impact.
“The whole concept is exciting,” said Morgan. “We all remember when the first time Twenty20 cricket was played and since then it (Twenty20) has impacted the other formats.
“If this new idea takes off then I am sure it will also impact the other forms of the game.”
The four teams will be selected through a drafts later this month.
Veteran Misbah, who retired from Test cricket this year, said the new format is well-suited to ageing players.
“Its an exciting idea and a good thing for players like me,” said the 43-year-old. “It will need just ten overs of batting and then fielding and at this age I can afford that.”
