Twenty20 somehow seems to suit everyone due to the short time required to play the game and not to mention that it is interesting too. The duration of this format is just longer than football and rugby. Before the T20 World Cup started many dismissed this as a game where the bowlers will be totally demolished and there will be plenty of slogging but we have seen instances where the bowlers have had their shot at fame in this format and some great cricketing shots being played.
I was watching a debate on NDTV just before the final of the T20 tournament and it was interesting to note that it was mentioned that the ICC had decided that there will not be any more than two T20 games played during any tour. It seems to be that there are some old timers in the ICC who do not want the world to embrace T20 cricket. I guess that this is not only a problem in the ICC but everywhere since on the NDTV debate some retired old time cricketing blokes were extremely worried about the future of Test Cricket (yawn).
With the Twenty20 format the ICC will be able to introduce this version into the SAF Games, Asian Games, Commonwealth Games and finally as an Olympic Sport. This format would also help cricket to become more popular in countries that do not play cricket. In addition the Twenty20 league being planned by the Indian Cricket Board will consist of club cricket between teams from India, Australia, England and I read somewhere that Sri Lanka may also pitch in. So we may have a FA Cup, Barclays Premier League or UEFA cup style tournament in cricket too. I honestly feel sorry for the Zee TV people since their ICL (Indian Cricket League) was planned to capitalize on the loss by the Indian Cricket Team during the ICC World Cup and they never expected India to win the T20 World Cup. Now that the BCCI has planned to launch their own T20 league together with Australia and England it is probably a bad blow to the ICL.
The ICC hopefully does not stem the growth of Twenty20 just to make sure that Test Cricket (yawn) does not fade away (okay who watches Test Cricket anyway, I can’t remember the last time I watched a Test match). The way the 50 over game is played will change most definitely by taking some tips from the T20 format.
The players except a few seem to be okay with T20 cricket but most importantly the cricket fans love it and where ever the fans are so will be the big broadcasters and the commercial sponsors. Eventually T20 will become the most popular and will be played many more times than the 50 over game. Unless Test Cricket (yawn) receives a face lift it’s future looks bleak. If the T20 format is suppressed then the ICC will not have any chance of increasing the popularity of cricket in other nations.
Three cheers to T20 Cricket, by the way are there any T20 matches planned for the England tour of Sri Lanka? The Australia tour of India has one T20 game which is yet to be confirmed.
