(MENAFN- Khaleej Times) West Indies T20 World Cup-winning captain Darren Sammy said that it was time to embrace the newest format of cricket and felt the abridged version to T10 could be the route to the Olympics.
The 33-year-old globetrotter has featured in a number of T20 Leagues like the Indian Premier League (IPL), the Australian Big Bash (BBL), the Caribbean Premier League (CPL), the Pakistan Super League (PSL) and the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL).
He has played for teams like Sunrisers Hyderabad, Royal Challengers Bangalore and Kings XI Punjab in the IPL, Hobart Hurricanes in the Big Bash, St Lucia Stars in the CPL, Peshawar Zalmi in the PSL and Rajshahi Kings in the BPL.
And now, it is set to be a first with Sammy having signed up for the sport's most abridged format - T10.
The inaugural T10 League takes place at the historic Sharjah Cricket Stadium from Thursday until Sunday. Six franchises are taking part in the competition with matches lasting just 90 minutes.
Sammy will ply his trade for the Bengal Tigers, captained by Pakistan skipper Sarfraz Ahmed. Sammy, who led the West Indies to World T20 titles in 2012 and 2016, felt that the latest version could be the ideal format to make it to the Olympics.
"I'm actually looking forward to it," said Sammy.
"It is a new venture in the game and it is one that I believe will really take off. It has potential to be big. And we always talk about cricket in the Olympics and I think 10 overs a side could be the window for cricket being in the Olympics," he added.
Cricket was played at the Olympics for the first and only time in 1900 in Paris with only two teams - Great Britain and France participating. Since then, there have been efforts to include the sport but there has been opposition from some quarters.
Sammy that it was important that the players and the fans embrace cricket's evolution and felt the new format has a bright future.
"Like I said, it could create a window. We all have got to embrace it. It is much shorter, an hour and a half, bowlers going hard at the batsmen and batsmen trying to hit the bowlers out of the park. It is non-stop adrenaline pumping, and like I said, it is important for us to embrace it. And my job is to entertain and hopefully we get to do that. But I feel it could go a long way," he said.
As is the case with most cricket Leagues around the world the West Indies have a strong presence with a number of players picked for the T10.
"I think we have a number of West Indian players. In all the teams, you can see two or three West Indian players playing. In total, I think we have atleast 12 players from the West Indies in the T10. As you can see in the recent T20s, the guys are improving and you get the entertainment from all over. I just think this short format creates that opportunity, the crowd loves it. Hopefully, this one could be successful," Sammy said.
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