We have to find a way to continue to grow the game globally: Aaron Finch

When Italy's Mosca brothers dismantled Nepal at the Wankhede, or when Nepal themselves took England to the final ball, or as Zimbabwe stunned Australia, the 2026 T20 World Cup got some of its biggest hits.

Yet, as the likes of Italy, Nepal, and the USA leave their footprints on the world stage, they will return to a grim reality once it's over. For these nations, a World Cup isn't just a tournament, it's a rare audition. Once the curtains fall, they are sucked back into a vicious cycle—starved of elite fixtures by a calendar where T20 leagues have bought up all the prime real estate.

The rise of the "disruptors" is no accident. Dale Steyn points to the "rubbing of shoulders" in leagues like the SA20—now a powerhouse in its fourth year—as the secret sauce that turns an "Average Joe" in South Africa into a world-beater.

"Back in the day, players would go to the IPL to find that kind of experience… at almost an international level," Steyn observed. "Now in South Africa, it's much the same. You're rubbing shoulders with the likes of Phil Salt, Nicholas Pooran, Rashid Khan… that wasn't happening before."

Steyn's argument is that these leagues provide the "Championship DNA" that saw South Africa clinch the World Test Championship in 2025 and reach the T20 World Cup final in 2024. "Championship teams produce championship cricketers. These guys are familiar with winning; they're used to the big moments."

However, for a player from Nepal or Italy, getting into those leagues is the first hurdle. Without the "money for cricket balls and facilities" that Associate teams desperately need, the gap between a heroic World Cup cameo and a sustained career remains big.

While Steyn sees leagues as the "catalyst," former Australian captain Aaron Finch warns that the "pinnacle" is being squeezed into extinction. For Finch, the growth of the game globally shouldn't be a byproduct of franchise cricket, but the primary goal of the international schedule.

"International cricket still [is] the pinnacle for me," Finch asserted. "I understand how hard it is getting because of so many T20 leagues popping up and all competing for the same space. But we have to find a way to continue to grow that game globally… giving Associate nations more opportunity to play against Full Members on a more regular basis."

This tournament has stood testament to why this line of thought needs to be considered carefully. The talent is there, the fear is gone, but the space in the calendar is missing. The solutions are not straightforward, as Steyn points out.

"Everybody wants a piece of cricket and the problem is that somebody is going to fall short. And most of the time it's the guys that need it most that fall short. And then when they come to these World Cups, then we can't stop waxing lyrical at how good they are. But then for the next two, three years, we don't see them anywhere."

As Steyn puts it, "it boils down to the people that organize it," to bridge the gap between Steyn's "rubbing shoulders" idea and Finch's "pinnacle" thought, so that the underdogs aren't muzzled for a large part of the year.