Christchurch: The assortment of T20 leagues, including the cash-rich IPL has entirely changed the landscape of cricket with more and more players inclined to forego their national contracts in lure of lucrative overseas deals, feels New Zealand pacer Tim Southee.
Three New Zealand players — Trent Boult, Martin Guptill and Jimmy Neesham — have so far given up their central contract to play in different leagues across the globe.
“It has been an interesting last few months where the landscape of cricket has changed, quicker than most thought,” Southee said ahead of Wednesday’s third ODI against India.
“I am contracted to New Zealand Cricket at the moment and I’ve been back to the IPL (Indian Premier League) this year and we’ll see what happens over the coming years. But it’s definitely changing the landscape of cricket to what it was two-three years ago.”
Southee will turn up for Kolkata Knight Riders in 2023 IPL season.
Southee, himself, remained non-committal about the possibility of following the footsteps of his teammates and stepping away from his national contracts.
“I haven’t looked too far ahead, to be honest. There’s enough cricket to come in the coming months to worry about before having to look too far ahead. But it’s something all players are trying to stay with and think about in the moving landscape of the game,” he said.
—PTI

Press Trust of India