We are currently witnessing a bonanza of cricket in a capsule. The game started off as five-day, then sixty-over cricket appeared, then was shortened to fifty, then the world saw the appearance of the shortest form of the game, merely twenty overs a side. And in the rare event of a tie, one over will suffice to decide the winner, possibly of an entire tournament. Cricket is trying to emulate football, I suppose. Action packed into ninety short minutes. And it's the most popular sport in the world!
The IPL proudly and rightly declares about itself - It's Awesome. It's a 240 ball rollercoaster. And it is. An over can turn a game around. The new generation, of which I am a part, does not appreciate dreary five-day games filled with dour defence. No, not at all. The World Cup has proved that one-day cricket's life is yet prolonged, but the future of cricket, I think, is Twenty20. We want a game where the highlights show is as long as the game itself, where the ball is repeatedly whacked into the stands. Elegance is the worry of the older generation. As long as there is action, we're fine.
We're getting there. Bingles (boring singles), ever present in one-day cricket, are a tiny part of T20, only there to give the strike to the better batsman or keep the strike at the end of an over. They are never continuous, always punctuated by boundaries or wickets. And the ongoing IPL is showing that it is not a batsman-dominated format. The battle between bat and ball is still extant, the only compromise is on cricket that is elegant. That too is kept alive by the stalwarts like Tendulkar and Warne who play the shorter version of the sport.
Is T20 cricket the ideal format? Maybe not. But it is definitely here to stay.
The IPL proudly and rightly declares about itself - It's Awesome. It's a 240 ball rollercoaster. And it is. An over can turn a game around. The new generation, of which I am a part, does not appreciate dreary five-day games filled with dour defence. No, not at all. The World Cup has proved that one-day cricket's life is yet prolonged, but the future of cricket, I think, is Twenty20. We want a game where the highlights show is as long as the game itself, where the ball is repeatedly whacked into the stands. Elegance is the worry of the older generation. As long as there is action, we're fine.
We're getting there. Bingles (boring singles), ever present in one-day cricket, are a tiny part of T20, only there to give the strike to the better batsman or keep the strike at the end of an over. They are never continuous, always punctuated by boundaries or wickets. And the ongoing IPL is showing that it is not a batsman-dominated format. The battle between bat and ball is still extant, the only compromise is on cricket that is elegant. That too is kept alive by the stalwarts like Tendulkar and Warne who play the shorter version of the sport.
Is T20 cricket the ideal format? Maybe not. But it is definitely here to stay.
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