Modi dismisses talk of T20 'overkill'
Wednesday, 3 June 2009
LONDON, June 2 (AFP): Indian Premier League commissioner Lalit Modi dismissed Monday talk that the growth of such tournaments was leading to an "overkill" of Twenty20 cricket.
Modi, speaking at a hotel near Lord's - where India were playing New Zealand in a warm-up match for the International Cricket Council World Twenty20 - said the recent IPL in South Africa had drawn new audiences into the game.
"We've just finished a study in South Africa that showed 70 per cent of the people who watched the IPL this year had never watched any form of cricket before," Modi told reporters.
"That's an astonishing figure. For a tournament like the IPL to be able to garner new audiences is critical for the growth of cricket."
Champions of Twenty20 say it will ultimately bolster attendances for five-day Test cricket although anecdotal evidence suggests there had not yet been a great 'crossover' in most of the sport's major nations.
Modi, speaking at a hotel near Lord's - where India were playing New Zealand in a warm-up match for the International Cricket Council World Twenty20 - said the recent IPL in South Africa had drawn new audiences into the game.
"We've just finished a study in South Africa that showed 70 per cent of the people who watched the IPL this year had never watched any form of cricket before," Modi told reporters.
"That's an astonishing figure. For a tournament like the IPL to be able to garner new audiences is critical for the growth of cricket."
Champions of Twenty20 say it will ultimately bolster attendances for five-day Test cricket although anecdotal evidence suggests there had not yet been a great 'crossover' in most of the sport's major nations.