Impact of T20 on Test and ODI cricket

A T20 match which lasts no longer than 4 hours has surely huge impact on Test and ODI Cricket.

Captain of New Zealand Brendon McCullum celebrates 300 runs during day 5 of the 2nd International Test cricket match between New Zealand and India in Wellington at the Basin Reserve on February 18, 2014.

As we are in the middle of a T20 World Cup, we look back at how this fast-paced, ever growing format has impacted the other two superior formats of the game. The purists always feared that this format would take over Test and ODI cricket, but that hasn’t happened, so far. However, Judging by some of the scores we are seeing in One-Day Internationals, one does get a feel that the T20 effect has already crept in.

Also, we are getting to see some of its effects in Test Cricket. Didn’t Chris Gayle smash the very first ball of a Test match for a six around 18 months ago? How many times have we seen that before? And how many Test matches in recent memory were boring and ended in dull draws? Not many.

Impact on ODI cricket

T20’s impact on the 50-over format goes beyond stats. Yes, we get to see a lot of 300-plus scores these days and sometimes even 350-plus scores. The real impact, though, started to show up when teams became increasingly confident of chasing down any total. Batsmen do realize that if they can accumulate wickets in the first 30 overs, then they can virtually chase down any amount of runs in the last 15 to 20 overs.

There is no doubt that the new fielding restriction rules have contributed a lot to this, but, at the same time, one cannot deny that teams prefer chasing these days after successfully chasing down totals in the 20-over format.

Teams do understand that if given a good batting surface, the totals will soar above 320 especially with the new rules in place. Since you have to bat for 50 overs, one may not be sure about the winning total. Over the years, the par score has seen a rise in this format. It was 250 in the late 90s as compared to 220 in the early 90s. Post 2000, teams considered 275 as the par score, but, over the last few years, there is no doubt that teams are unsure about it because of the batsmen chasing down huge scores.

Is there a safe score now in the 50-over format?

The world record run-chase was probably the first instance which kick-started this trend. Nobody saw that coming after Australia had posted 434. And then prior to the 2007 World Cup, we saw New Zealand chase down 336 and 346 against Australia in consecutive games.

India fell agonizingly short of 3 runs while chasing 350 against Australia (again) in 2009, and Sri Lanka fell short by the same margin against India while chasing 415 in the same year. Virat Kohli’s blitz to help India chase 320 in just 37 overs is something that no fan will ever forget.

And remember, the above mentioned instances happened when five fielders were allowed outside the circle. Also, it’s worth mentioning that One-Day cricket saw three double hundreds post the ‘T20 era’, and it looks like there are a few more to come in the near future.

Over the last few months, we saw India chase down 350 twice against Australia and tie a game against New Zealand where they scored 314. In that tied game, India actually needed 131 runs in less than 15 overs having already lost 6 wickets.

No more do fans lose hope when the opposition posts a 300-plus total. Go back by ten years, and you will realize that whenever a team posted a 300-plus total, it was invariably decided that they would go on and win. These days, though, chasing teams take the fight to the opposition till the end, which is exciting to watch.

Impact on Test Cricket

Wasn’t Test cricket supposed to be taking a backseat in the minds of fans with T20 taking over? There is no doubt that the T20 fan base is growing each day, but the ultimate format is still on top and continues to draw the respect of fans and players all over the globe.

Things may change in the future, but, in order to make sure Test cricket continues to attract the future generation, the format needs to be a bit fast-paced and more importantly result-oriented. If Test Cricket keeps churning out dull draws, then the next generation would never be interested in the format.

So, is it time to press the panic button? Results over the last few years say NO. T20 has brought in a sense of fearlessness in the minds of batsmen, and we are seeing higher run rates and in return results, rather than dull draws.

David Warner: How could you miss his name when you speak of T20′s impact on Test cricket!

Indian batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar recently spoke about how Tests have produced more results in recent times compared to yesteryears. He stressed on the role of 20-20 cricket for this change. We see teams going after the target in the 4th innings of a Test match a lot more than how it originally was all these years.

Here is a mindboggling stat: in the entire history of Test cricket, only on 124 occasions a team has scored 300-plus in the 4th innings and 30 (one-fourth) out of those 124 have come after 2008, which is considered as the year T20 started carving out its own place.

Memorable Tests post the T20 era

One of the memorable run-chases of this era has to be the Chennai Test in December 2008, when India chased down 387 on the final day of the Test. And after a few days, South Africa managed to chase down 414 against Australia. That was the second-highest run-chase in the history of the game.

The most recent was one of the most followed run-chases where Pakistan chased down 302 against Sri Lanka with a run rate of 5. They had a maximum of 59 overs; in the pre T20 era, most teams would have opted to bat out those overs to be on the safer side and ensure they don’t lose the game.

Apart from the Pak-SL Test, we saw three more Tests in the last 3 months with memorable endings. South Africa almost created history by chasing 458 against India, falling short by 8 runs. India’s attempt to chase down 407 in the final innings against New Zealand was cut short by only 40 runs. And then South Africa battled hard for 134 overs to ensure a draw against Australia, but Ryan Harris finished the game when there were only 27 balls left.

This sort of a fearless approach is what T20 has brought to Test cricket. That doesn’t mean the required Test match skills have diminished. It’s been a nice mixture of both, and that’s what the fans want to see. Amidst these Tests, we also saw matches where India and South Africa batted for two days to save a Test match against New Zealand and Australia respectively, and last month we saw a brilliant comeback by Brendon Mccullum and BJ Watling to save a Test match which was almost lost.

Also, these days we see some Tests finishing inside four days. Ideally, we would like to see the game enter the fifth day, but why would the fan complain if he gets to watch a contest being fought evenly till the end? England won the first Ashes Test last July by 14 runs. And New Zealand beat Australia by 7 runs in 2011. These two matches went back and forth till the end. Zimbabwe shocking Pakistan to win by 24 runs last September needs to be added to this collection, as well.

These close finishes have certainly kept Test cricket right on top where it belongs, and T20 has contributed to it in a large way. Apart from the batting and bowling, fielding in Test cricket has had a huge impact. Some of the above mentioned matches turned on their head because of some outstanding catches and run-outs.

There is no doubt that T20 has had its effect on Test cricket, and it’s good for the format’s future as long it is producing result oriented Test matches. It remains to be seen, though, if it completely takes away the necessary Test match skills of a cricketer, which might either destroy or give a whole new perspective to the sport’s holiest format.