T20: A massacre of cricket

To talk about the most current issue of the recent days, we will have to introduce the very new format of T20. The format is undoubtedly the most familiar to us as India won the first world T20 cup. T20 has succeeded maximum amongst the youngsters.

Even though we are quite acquainted with this format in this decade, it had its origin years back in the 1960s.  English amateur cricket had similar rules, which bore a close resemblance with today’s T20. Though this format took a long time to get an official declaration but finally the England Cricket Board legalized this format in an attempt to bring back the craze that was missing from the cricketing scene. The first ever T20 international was played between Australia and New Zealand at Eden Park in Auckland in the year 2005. 

Interestingly this format has a lot of similarity with that of football and is bound to certain rigid rules. Unlike the one day matches, it takes only 3 hours to finish which implies that each team has got seventy five minutes to complete their session. Batsmen and bowlers have to work extremely hard to restrict the run score. Penalty is also levied if a side fails to finish in time. In such cases, extra points are rewarded.

There are certain advantages as well as disadvantages of T20 cricket. To mention the advantages, people have surely found this format very amusing; the main reason for football to be one of the most famous games is because of its time limit. Lot of action happens within a short time span in T20’s.

There are a certain disadvantages too which are to be taken into consideration. This format is somehow spoiling the other formats of cricket. This gives youngsters a wrong impression on cricket. They feel cricket is all about hitting sixes and fours.

 The worse thing about this format is most of the players retire in their early stages of career just to earn more money playing less matches. They receive more money just by playing two series of T20 rather than playing one day and Test matches.

Thus, I would consider it to be both a boon and a curse, as in a boon in the ground of profit making and it can be a curse as this shorter format can immensely affect the physical fitness and create fatigue amongst the players and to be of my personal concern it also reduces the life span of a player in cricketing terms.

Srota Roychowdhury

( PG MEDIA 2015-2017)