Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Cricket is evolving...

Dilshan's improvised stroke lofting the ball over his helmet and the wicket keeper's, for a four against West Indies.
See how T20 is changing cricket?
The beauty of T20 is all the sloggers have failed. While new risky strokes have been developed, those who are not making cricketing strokes are all failing. Great example of the already once legendry Afridi. He was just not connecting the other day. Even today while Jaisurya and Dilshan played brilliantly both fell to unorthodox strokes - the reverse sweep.

But T20 is having a wholesome or otherwise effect on The ODIs and Tests. In ODIs you are getting tall scores. Some of the daring of T20 is manifesting itself there. Tests are also being affected. You are seeing better scores, more lively batting and lesser draws. Now if that is good or bad I do not know.

The biggest benficiary seems to be India. Their bench strength has increased no ends. IPL is giving a lots of young boys in India to taste international cricket and rub shoulders with the greats of cricket like Gilchrist, Shane Warne and the like. Govt. ban on no more than 4 international players per team has worked for them.

Like it or not T20 has come to stay. The T20 that started in Karachi due to paucity of grounds caught up in Saudi Arabia. Jeddah, Riyadh, Yanbu and other towns have at least three leagues in excess of 150 teams. It is unfortunate there is no mechanism by which those boys can show off their talent internationally.

T20 is entertainment par excellence. I only hope it does not kill ultimate form of the game The Test. But if people like Tendulkar keep playing till they drop dead unlike Gilchrist, Lara and Hayden who left at peak, the chances are test will face challenging times.

4 comments:

Cyril said...

Beautifully written. Thanks.

Syed said...

The champion has tasted defeat at the hands of Srilanka while Pakistan has lost a match they had all but won by unnecessarily bringing pressure on themselves. This is the beauty of T20. Wonder why the team management is persisting with Afridi. He got out the very first ball. He is all brawn no brain. We are wasting one genuine batsman's place by having him in the team. The way Srilanka beat India was very exciting. Lets hope the best team lifts the cup.

Thareen said...

But the unthinkable has happened. Pakistan is in the finals. Great. The heroes have been Umar Gul and surprisingly Afridi against South Africa. Hopefully if Afridi survives four over hitting a six and a boundry at least in each then final will be ours too. For Pakistan West Indies will be easier to beat than Srilanka. Who cares on a given day if luck is ours we will beat anybody.

Arif said...

The sure shot winners have been eliminated. India the champions gone. So have Australia, Bangla Desh, Newzealand and now South Africa what is happening. Don't be surprised if Pakistan lifts the cup. Keep your fire works ready.