Sangakkara to feature in a new ‘T10’ league

The United Arab Emirates will introduce a new cricket format when former captain Kumar Sangakkara and big-hitters Shahid Afridi of Pakistan, India’s Virender Sehwag, and England’s Eoin Morgan feature in a ‘T10’ league in December.

The ten-over-a-side matches will run for about 90 minutes in Sharjah. The tournament will be swift, lasting just four days from 21-24 December.

Former Pakistan captain Misbah-ul-Haq and the world’s top-ranked Test allrounder Shakib al Hasan will also feature in the tournament.

Twenty20 cricket was introduced in England in 2003 while the first international T20 match was held between Australia and New Zealand at Auckland in February 2005.

Since then the format has helped grow the popularity of the game through the introduction of a World T20 tournament as well domestic leagues. And the new league’s president Salman Iqbal believes an even shorter format has legs.

Iqbal said, “Everyone has played T10 cricket on the streets and this will give more fire to cricket and will be a big step forward and people will definitely enjoy it.”