20/20

I had never seen a 20/20 cricket game before the world cup, and even after the conclusion of this memorable tournament, I can claim to have seen only one. Infact, the only way I came to know about the start of the tournament was through a friend who called me to rub salt on my wounds by informing that Aussies were beaten by Zimbabwe. After I hung up the call, I thought this was some kind of knock-out format and almost decided not to follow the tournament any further, only to realise that it was a round robin format and that the Aussies still had a chance to excel in the tourney!

Although the tournament doled out some close games in the beginning rounds, my faith in this format of the game was not affirmed till I watched the semi-finals game between India-Australia. The close fought Indo-Pak finals and the ensuing victory further firmly supplanted my belief in the future of this format. Boy! cricket has come a long way from days when Sunny Gavaskar grinded a painful 34 runs in 60 overs, to a day when Yuvraj blasted 50 runs of mere 2 overs!!

However, what gave me the greatest satisfaction was to see the crowd enjoy the game, in a way I have never imagined before. There were jumbotrons, fireworks at every boundary, DJ's belting out hit numbers, dancers dancing on stilts and given the short duration of the game, the crowd stayed lively throughout the night. Having seen professional sports in US like baseball, basketball & hockey wherein the audience is regaled to the maximum by the organisers, sponsors and announcers irrespective of the outcome of the game on the field, I have always thought of transplating the same culture to cricket. I have seen a few games in India in the stadium, and soon realised that discounting the great atmosphere in the stands, its a very discomforting experience if your team does not perform well. There is absolutely nothing in the stadium to distract or entertain you - but thanks to some infusion of theatrics off-late, cricket might be turning a new leaf. Also some of the western influence in player introductions, graphics and in general the presentation on TV etc are definitely welcome.

Now purists might object to corruption of the game by reduction of the overs, and stripping bowlers of any respect, but in a decade, I can easily see 20/20 completely subplanting 50 overs one-day internationals as crickets mainstay. The test format, with the men in whites might still maintain its position and please the orthodox, but the impatient younger generation will find it easier to identify with 20/20. It was not long ago when Kerry Packer was branded a rebel for disillusioning cricketing world with colored shirts and lights. Some going as far as to call his attempt a circus. Well! as we can testify today, day and night games have graduated to be the best form of one-day cricket.

However, if I might make a fair criticism of 20/20, I think it kind of devalues the long term strategy invoked in 50 overs format. You no longer need to plan 2 hours down the road and conserve wickets and preserve bowlers. The 20/20 lets you go slam bang and is very forgiving with some small erroneous strategies. The bowlers definitely don't get as reverred as they would be in longer version, but talk to RP Singh and he will give you a lesson or two on how to earn respect. All in all, whether you like it or not, 20/20 is here to stay, so start following it or else you may never be able to have a meaningful cricketing discussion with your kids.