Retired Australian pacer Ryan Harris says T20 World Cup is a waste of time

The World Twenty20 Championships to be held next month in India are nothing but a "waste of time", feels former Australian pacer Ryan Harris.

A day after Australia were whitewashed 3-0 by India in a T20 series, Harris said there is no point in having a Twenty20 World Cup when the sides involved do not play too many of such games on a regular basis. "Personally I think it's a waste of time having a T20 World Cup," Harris, who retired from the game last year, told 'SEN Radio'.

"Last year we played one T20 (against England in August). This year because there's a World Cup I think we play six there's three more in South Africa before they get over there (to India). To take it seriously I think you need to be playing a lot more than that when there's a World Cup involved," Harris added.

However, Harris rejected suggestions that the Australian team does not take the tournament seriously. "Are we taking it seriously with our team? Well we are, but the problem we've got is the guys played a Twenty20 yesterday, a lot of them flew to New Zealand on Sunday and the rest of them flew this morning," said the 36-year-old Harris.

"We're definitely taking it (the World T20) seriously, it's a World Cup that we haven't won and I know Darren Lehmann and Aaron Finch, the captain and coach, really want to bring it back to Australia," he signed off.