J Srinath/Newindpress
Cape Town, Sep 18: The World Twenty-20 has taken a new twist. The reaction to the new format has been a mixed bag but overall, its acceptance is quite encouraging.
Now it is time to monitor Twenty20’s impact on oneday cricket. The 50-over game was ideal for the sponsor who had all seven hours of television which evidently meant more slots for publicity.
By the end of the T20 World Cup, all the countries could decide whether this format should be a regular feature in their schedule.
If 20-20 were to be a regular feature, how much space would that eat into the 50-over format? Will the three-hour time slot give enough to the sponsors to justify their return on investment?
Now the serious stuff. There is a psychological shift in the approach of both the bowlers and batsmen towards T20. The batsmen are the masters of this game where technique and temperament, the key qualities, are not required.
In T20, all other subtle attributes of batting are converted into aggression. Running between the wickets seems to be losing significance as runmaking is largely based on fours and sixes.
In T20, the bowlers have their hearts in their mouths. The bowlers are like lambs to the slaughter. A bowler’s head is looking upwards tracking the aerial route of the ball.
The no-ball rule comes not only with extra run but also a decimating free-hit ball. On the consistent flat wickets, the only way a bowler might think of taking some control in the game is while he walks back to the crease as a batsman. But T20 will help breed a lot of mediocre batsmen, a lot of blind sloggers.
The likes of Sachin, Sourav, Ricky Ponting and Sehwag will face competition from players with no depth. Fielding will gain more and more importance. Boundary line stops and catches will decide the match results. The success or failures of this T20 format has direct bearings on the kids of today.
I feel while encouraging Twenty20 as a new commercial dimension to cricket, care should be taken to check the health of 50 over-limited games.