David Richardson says International Cricket Council (ICC) could scrap the Champions Trophy in favour of staging the World Twenty20 every two years.
Pakistan crushed India by 180 runs to win this year’s edition of the Champions Trophy at The Oval on Sunday, with a worldwide television audience of millions watching the stunning final.
But some officials believe the eight-team tournament is now too similar to the World Cup which the ICC, controversially, has decided should be contested by just 10 teams from the 2019 event in England.
Former champions India are due to host the event in 2021 but ICC chief executive Richardson warned it was by no means certain the event would go ahead, with the former South Africa wicketkeeper saying future World Twenty20s could feature up to 20 teams.
According to ICC, Richardson told reporters via telephone, “What we want to do is differentiate our global events from each other so that they can be standalone and create maximum interest every time the event happens.”
“At this stage, the next Champions Trophy is still scheduled for India in 2021. Whether that gets changed, the consideration has been given to changing to two T20s in a four-year cycle which would mean swapping the Champions Trophy for a World T20.”
He added: “The fact is that World T20s do attract a lot of interest, they generate significant revenue for the television companies, but most importantly from our point of view they provide us with an opportunity to give more opportunities to more teams.
“A 16-team World T20 ─ even a 20-team World T20 ─ down the line is something that we would like to look at.”
