Scrap Champions Trophy, make way for IPL: Hayden

New Delhi:

Former Australian opener Matthew Hayden has advocated scrapping of the Champions Trophy and a two-month window for the Indian Premier League in the international calendar.

In his column for the 'Independent', Hayden wrote: There's too much cricket, too much of it is meaningless, and there are just too many different formats.

"Playing the World Twenty20 every other year is too much. And why have the Champions Trophy when you've already got a 50-over World Cup," he said.

Hayden said cricket should take lessons from football and evolve.

"There are strong lessons to be learned from the success achieved in other sports, such as the quadrennial cycle of football World Cup and UEFA European Championships."

"Cricket should follow this with a similar cycle of T20 World Cup and ODI World Cup. To maximize coverage these should be played in odd-numbered years - football major competitions, and the Olympics, are in even-numbered years. The Champions Trophy should be scrapped," he wrote.

Hayden, who plays for Chennai Super Kings, said there was nothing more exciting and challenging than the opportunity to play amongst the best players in the world.

"The T20 format is high-impact, colourful and attractive. I truly believe that the formula works, and that IPL, the world's premier franchise competition, is here to stay."

"The IPL has the ability to generate international fan bases in the same way as achieved by the English football's Premier League. I believe some IPL matches should go on the road each year and be played in other countries, to make it a global competition. The sooner the world of cricket embraces the IPL, the sooner everyone can find ways to benefit from its massive potential," he said.

The Australian giant also backed the idea of World Test Championships to draw spectators to the stands for the traditional format.

"I propose the establishment of a World Series, or a 'World Test Championship' if you like, which would be on a rolling calendar with finals every two years," he said.

"At the core would be the iconic series - the Ashes and India v Pakistan. They should stay as five-match series. Aside from those ties, teams are pooled in two groups, with everyone playing each other and scoring points for wins, draws and series wins, and picking up bonus points for stand-out batting and bowling performances. The leading two in each group would progress to semi-finals and a final, the other would enter a rankings play-off system," he added.