New-age Cricket !!!

We are entering a new age in cricket. Cricket’s latest avatar is taking the world by storm. Started just about 2 years back, it has got everyone’s attention like nothing else before. Already, the ICC deems it worthy of a World Cup (remember, the 50 over format had a low-key WC more than a decade after the limited-overs game was introduced in England). And to follow that up, four of the world’s richest and most influential cricket boards have joined hands to create an ‘official’ Twenty-20 international league, much on the lines of the Champions League in European football. I suspect the dynamics of world cricket are going to be altered fundamentally in the years to come.

So what is it about T20??? The first word that is usually associated with T20 is ‘fun’. Talk to about half the cricketers about the new baby, and this is the word that you would find in their first sentence. Yes, it is very much about fun, primarily for the spectators. A game that is done and dusted in three hours is ideal to take your family and friends out to on an evening after work. The innovators have also made some smart moves to ensure more activity and fun for the players. The ‘dressing room’ has been bought on to the field (you surely wont find anyone dressing thereJ), so that the tensions and tactics of the games can be seen by all. The new batsman pretty much sprints to the wicket or else he is timed out. And not to forget the cheer leaders entertaining the crowd after every boundary or wicket. There is a definite carnival atmosphere to this format of the game. For the organizers, this attracts newer segments of the population to the game which hitherto had stayed away from game because of its slowness and excessive length. It is truer in England than anywhere else, where the overwhelming success of the format has resuscitated the game in the counties. It is therefore, without a doubt, a win-win both for the authorities and the spectators.

But what about the players? I saw the first game of the World Cup and the frightening manner in which Gayle and Gibbs murdered the bowling put me off a bit. I have always been an advocate of an equal contest between bat and ball, and that game did not do the bowlers any favours. Thankfully though, the other games have seen more of a level playing field, with the India-Pakistan contest being a real classic to rival any ODI or Test match. Still, the T20 format inherently favours the batsmen. Here, they have the license to go for the big hits from the first ball without too much worry about wickets (you have to be really ordinary to lose 10 wickets in 20 overs !!). Infact, after the first game, I thought that having only 8 batsman bat (i.e. maximum of 7 wickets only) might be a useful thing to try out. The pitches and conditions in Durban and Cape Town have favoured the bowlers a bit, which is why you see first-innings scores of 130-150 rather than 200+. This makes for a much more interesting game. But these pitches are the exception rather than the norm, and therefore, expect the bowlers to suffer a lot more in T20. This needs to be addressed sooner or latter by the ICC. That apart, this World Cup looks set to be a great success and the T20 format would sooner or later be the primary format of cricket played over the globe.

Cheers
Amit