T20 Leagues Are A Threat For International Cricket, Says South Africa's Faf Du Plessis

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Former South Africa captain Faf du Plessis, who will play for Peshawar Zalmi in PSL, feels T20 leagues around the world are a threat to international cricket. 

"T20 leagues are a threat for international cricket. The power of the leagues are growing year by year and obviously, in the beginning, there might be just 2 leagues around the world and now it's becoming 4,5, 6,7 leagues in a year. The leagues are just getting stronger," he said in a virtual media interaction ahead of the PSL, which resumes from June 9 in UAE.

Du Plessis said that the administrators need to find a way to see how it's possible for leagues and international cricket to co-exist. 

"I think it's important that in future you try and see how it's possible both can co-exist because it becomes a choice moving forward into the future then it can be a real threat for the international game," he added.

"That is a huge challenge. Maybe in 10 years' time cricket will almost be like soccer where you have your world events and in between, you have these leagues around the world where players can play," Du Plessis said.

The veteran South African batter took the example of West Indian players, who opted to become freelance cricketers to play T20 leagues around the world, and said that this shift has resulted in a big loss to national teams. 

"If I take someone like myself you go and play 2 or 3 or 4 leagues around the world but I can't predict the future. There are more and more players...(who want to play in T20 Leagues). West Indies probably is the first team that started doing it. All of their guys moved away from international team to the T20 domestic circuit. So the West Indian team lost a lot of their key players. It's starting to happen with South Africa also," he said.