TOT20 is here to stay

TOT20 refers to Test, One day and Twenty20 cricket and I believe that the three forms can only add to the excitement of the game. With Indian cricket’s recent debacle in the Test series against Australia, there has been a relentless degree of mockery directed towards the Indian team with some believing that apart from poor application, over-indulgence in T20 cricket has played a decisive part in the team’s downfall. Friends, let’s face it – cricket is the only sport which has three distinctive formats and instead of finding fault, as is human nature, why don’t we for a change, embrace the different forms of the game since each edition presents a story of its own?

A New Challenge

Cricketers are professionals who are expected to perform every time they set foot on the field. They should be prepared to tackle any situation that primarily includes adapting their approach, mental dexterity and temperament depending upon the format – the ultimate challenge for a cricketer today.

T20 is slam-bang and kaboom cricket that’s done and dusted with in a flash offering minimal scope to craft an innings, which if you ask me, presents a whole new challenge to the batsmen. Now, you can argue with me pointing out that being a batsman’s game, all one needs to do is smash the ball around which in turn, can hamper a batsman’s proficiency in the long run in the more profound and established formats of the game. But I strongly believe that for all its ‘flaws’, T20 has offered a whole new dimension to both batsmen as well as bowlers in the form of innovative stroke-play and infinite variations in bowling. No target seems insurmountable in all forms of cricket today, especially ODI’s, thanks to the additional skills players have developed in knocking off a target, be it eight runs an over or ten. For instance, Indian captain MS Dhoni is a master tactician at ‘finishing’ a match because of his experience playing ODIs and T20s over the last few years.

Big Draw

Yes, T20 cricket is heavily inclined towards entertainment and is a format that caters to the masses and not the classes. But, you can’t deny the fact that it brings in more of the family crowd, which is tremendous for the game, advertisers, sponsors and not to forget, the players who mint money dipping into this version.

There has been talk in recent times about the demise of ODI cricket citing poor crowds as an example in the current Commonwealth Bank ODI tri-series in Australia, but this is primarily due to the time span of the series (a month) coupled with the scheduling of matches on weekdays, which is unavoidable from the organizers’ perspective. However, the recent ODI between Australia and India in the series witnessed a robust crowd of 22K plus at the Adelaide Oval (on a Sunday), which shows that ODIs haven’t lost their sheen. As for test cricket, crowds of 70K plus attended the first day of the Boxing Day test match of the Australia vs. India series at the MCG in December 2011 and although the numbers dropped over the course of the match, the figures have been encouraging and again prove the fact that people are keen on superlative cricket irrespective of the format. So, all three versions of cricket are a hit among the fans who can never have enough of TOT20. What’s crucial to the prospects of the sport is equilibrium with everyone being entitled to a piece of the cherry with appropriate organization and scheduling.

Reality Bites

Experts say that budding cricketers make a wrong choice by launching their careers in the cash-rich T20 game. But, if a young aspiring chef, dancer or commentator, for that matter, can achieve fame by emerging as the winner (with limited skill & knowledge) in reality television shows that offer a perfect platform, then, what’s wrong with an upcoming cricketer taking the plunge into T20 early on in their careers? ‘Legalized’ shortcuts to celebrity status are a way of life today and are becoming the norm.

Many believe that Twenty20 is the future of cricket and that the other conventional formats of the game will fade out in the years to come, but, with a more methodical approach by the organizers, TOT20 can survive mutually in a big way.