Sandeep Patil: Give T20 leagues in India a common window

When asked whether the Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) should revert to the T20 format in the Kanga League, Sandeep Patil disagreed vehemently.

Sandeep Patil, who was mentor of Arcs Andheri team in the just-concluded T20 Mumbai League, wants the Indian cricket board to provide its state units a common window to conduct the domestic leagues in the shortest version.

This, the former India batsman and chairman of selectors felt will help in giving performances and performers in the T20 leagues more significance. "If you have these leagues at a fixed time, all performances will be get the attention they deserve in a proper way. Now it is scattered," said Patil, who agreed with Sunil Gavaskar's view, expressed at the launch of the league, that the event should be held before the Indian Premier League auction so that performing Mumbai players will be on the radar of the fanchisees and will get picked by them.

The cricket associations of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Mumbai and Saurashtra have their own T20 league. When asked whether the Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) should revert to the T20 format in the Kanga League, Patil disagreed vehemently. "No. The Kanga League is the essence of Mumbai cricket. We should stick to the current format and it must be held in the monsoons. A few years ago, they held the league in non-monsoon months which did not make sense," said Patil, who didn't want to see the novelty of the Kanga League be taken away.

"Earlier, participating in the Kanga League was not the only thrilling factor. Even the build-up and the feeling of getting your fixture book a week prior to the tournament caused such great excitement. I wish those days return and I hope Dilip Vengsarkar, who is now the Cricket Improvement Committee chief, puts a lot of impetus on this tournament. It's a tournament very dear to us all," added Patil, who played the Kanga League for three decades.

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