u/Huge-Physics5491

The most significant decision by the ICC which signaled that it was serious about growing the sport, which was giving every T20 match between two ICC members T20I status, was made in 2018. Only 8 years ago. So, football basically has a 100+ year lead on cricket when it comes to worldwide growth.

In these eight years, we're already seeing impact of this decision. In 2022 we had Namibia defeat Sri Lanka and Netherlands defeat South Africa. In 2024 you had USA defeat Pakistan and Canada defeat Ireland. In 2026, we had a crazy first weekend involving Pakistan vs Netherlands, India vs USA and England vs Nepal. Uganda and Italy made their World Cup debuts and had their first World Cup wins.

At this point, it's a matter of when and not if with regards to a 32-team T20 World Cup. We've just got to let time do its thing as more editions create more upsets and scares because it's kinda unrealistic to expect cricket to do what football did in 100+ years in 10-15 years.

Andre Lacximicant is, among the players eligible, probably the one who's playing in the highest rated league, as he plays for Estoril in the Portuguese top flight.

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If any ISL player wants to challenge him for a national team spot, any sane manager is going to say a simple thing, which is to show that he can play at the same level in club football as him.

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The ones who are hungry will accept the years of struggle at lower level European leagues to make it to the top and convince the national team manager that they deserve a chance.