A report reveals a shocking number of cricket stars who are willing to leave the country for the T20 leagues

According to the Federation of International Cricketers' Association (FICA), nearly forty percent of international cricketers prefer to participate in T20 franchise leagues over international cricket.

The debate over T20 franchise leagues taking over the majority of the international cricket calendar has been a major point of discussion in the cricketing fraternity for the past few years. The FICA report has shed light on the emergence of new T20 leagues and how strongly it has affected international cricket.

According to the report, in addition to 40 percent of players preferring T20 leagues, another 42 percent of international players currently play at least one T20 league overseas and have expressed their desire to play in both international and franchise leagues.

The FICA survey included responses from 400 international players from 11 countries, the majority of whom were international cricketers. The survey did not include players from Pakistan and India as both country do not have a functioning FICA-affiliated players' association.

The report also referred to players who can be considered free agents in the cricketing world.

"Some individuals who play for three or more teams represent a potential new category of freelancers, league specialists - many of whom have had limited international careers, including playing very little Test cricket, with their primary focus on the domestic League landscape." the report said.

Cricket stars who are willing to leave the country for the T20 leagues

In recent times, many players have chosen to either retire from a particular format of international cricket or give up their central contracts to extend their careers in the shortest format of the game. England Test captain Ben Stokes retired from ODI cricket, Quinton de Kock retired from Test cricket and Mohammad Amir took early international retirement, while Martin Guptill, Trent Boult, and Jimmy Neesham canceled their central New Zealand cricket contracts.

T20 leagues

Player preference for international cricket is likely to decline further as more T20 franchise leagues are formed over the next few years.