Cricket: Another T20 tournament mooted to replace Champions Trophy

Jubilant Pakistan players celebrate their Champions Trophy final victory. Photo / AP

The Champions Trophy could be consigned to history as the International Cricket Council considers beefing up its world T20 programme.

The 50-over trophy, won thrillingly by Pakistan, who beat India by a stonking 180 runs in the final at The Oval early on Monday (NZT) - is due to be hosted by India in four years' time.

However moves are afoot to replace it with another world T20 event.

That would lead to the shortest form of the game having two world tournaments in a four-year cycle.

The Champions Trophy is restricted to the top eight nations and is a cracking tournament for a couple of reasons - it's short, just 18 days for the edition just ended, and there are no dud games, with all due respect to the lightweight nations.

However there's talk of the world T20 enlarging from its current format of 10 teams, with two qualifying groups of four to find teams nine and 10, up to as many as 20 to give encouragement to the lower tier nations.

On one hand, that is a laudable idea; on the other, it's madness.

"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," ICC chief executive Dave Richardson said.

"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. It might not be necessary to continue with two 50-over tournaments going forward."

The World Cup is due to be trimmed to 10 teams for the 2019 event in England. Richardson talked of increasing the competitiveness of matches and the overall standard with that reduction. What that does to incentivise the next tier down is anyone's guess.

The ICC is known to be keen to capitalise on the rise in popularity of the 20-over format.

But that shouldn't be at the expense of a tournament which is popular with the players and eminently watchable. Don't be fooled into thinking every T20 tournament is worth staying glued to the screen.

Bottom line though: money talks, so don't be surprised to see the rise and rise of T20 continue, courtesy of the game's governors.