Cricket: Will T20 Save The Game?

The game of cricket seems to have found a new saviour in the form of the IPL, or the 20-20 at least. Cricket was a sport played mostly by the commonwealth nations and held very little appeal outside the formerly British-ruled countries.

Attempts made by the ICC to popularise the sport in the Americas were all but in vain. The sub-continent is where the sport will always thrive. And so, the BCCI seems to have found the answer. The club version of the 'gentleman's game' has been embraced by one and all.

Cricket was always considered a boring and complicated sport having very little appeal with the masses. All of that changed in the late 1970s, when Kerry Packer introduced the 50-50 version, now known as the ODI. And now, the T20 format seems to have become the newest craze.

In the late '90s and early 2000s, The England Cricket Board was going through a crisis. Attendance was dwindling at boring county games. So, in order to attract the crowds, The ECB introduced T20 cricket with each playing only 20 overs.

The trick worked, Crowds came back and attendance reached record highs. The game was revolutionised when the T20 World Cup was played in South Africa. India were the first champions in a thrilling final. The ODI World Cup debacle of the West Indies was all but forgotten, and now people believe that this is the new ODI.

The ICC was under fire when they were accused of mismanaging the ODI World Cup. Truly, they did. The competition was disastrously lengthy, and the death of Bob Woolmer was the talking point. Australia were crowned champions for the Fourth time and the third time in succession in a final that was concluded virtually in the dark.

All in all, it was very boring for a neutral because the biggest talking points were all negative, with the early exits of the Indian and Pakistani teams, along with Woolmer.

However, the T20 World Cup in South Africa was one to remember. After a great start with a 200-plus score chased, India and Pakistan met in the finals, which lived up to the hype. India won the Cup by a narrow margin.

And now, the introduction of the the IPL seems to been the final move in the resurrection of Cricket. Already, it has been a great show in the league matches. The game of cricket seems to have been saved from obscurity by the T20 format.

Hopefully, the T20 craze will last, and the game will spread to new countries.