By N.U. Abdul Razzak Udayar in Dubai
The game of cricket, that has the charm of uncertainty and unpredictability attracts millions of fans, listeners, masses, readers, and viewers across globe to be so close to it since the results of international matches of various versions of it give not only actions of normal performances but also brilliant and excellent feats or poor and pathetic shows thus causing anger, bliss, excitement, elation, irritation, joy, surprise, shock and what not among them! Obviously, cricket has the magic to be the magnet to draw its fans glued to it through its glorious uncertainties. Apparently, the change is the only phenomenon that remains unchanged in this world. It is not an exception for cricket as it has seen many a transformation since its inception in terms of its format and various aspects.
Dramatic Uncertainties
This gentleman’s game cricket is full of uncertainties as it has the power to make any unexpected and dramatic changes at any moment of the play of this exciting game, that is the 2nd most popular game of the world. Evidently, victories are achieved from the jaws of defeat and vice versa. This feature of cricket was clearly witnessed in the recently concluded Test series between Australia and India. Interestingly, the Cricketing juggernauts, India that compelled the other superpower in cricket, Australia to eat the humble pie by winning the last match to grab series by 2-1in the Down-Under. No one will easily forget that mighty India was ignominiously shot out for a paltry score of 36 in the first Test Match of this series. The nature of such most glorious uncertainties are vividly jotted down thus by Rowland Ryder in his write-up that is posted in www.espncricinfo.com.
“Among the myriad delights of cricket, not least is the glorious uncertainty of the game. Nothing is certain in cricket except its uncertainty. It is not likely that a batsman will hit every ball of an over for six; that a last wicket stand will add three hundred runs to the score; that a wicket-keeper will take off his pads and do the hat trick: none of these things are anything more than remotely possible, yet all of them have happened; and improbable events, their duration in time varying from a split second to a long drawn out week, interesting, exhilarating, something unbearably exciting, are happening every year that cricket is played.” Rowland Ryder
From 60 to 50 Overs
History amply proves cricket that originated and accepted to be a formal game in the latter part of the 16th century in the south-east England, though it was played quite a long time ago in some other parts of it, has got various variants with the passage of time. Today there are mainly four versions of this game, viz, Test, One Day International (ODI) Twenty-Twenty International (T20) and T10. If “Necessity is the mother of invention”, the T20 and T10 are the offspring that have drawn the attention of the global cricketing audience though T10 is the newest infant that waits to be nurtured and nourished. In fact, the major format of this gentleman’s game, Test Cricket that began in 1877 in Australia with the first match between touring England and the hosts, dominated the globe for a long time but gradually lost its real prominence as One Day Internationals stole the limelight of the international audience with the advent of the inaugural World Cup in 1975.
The West Indies that grabbed the first two world cups showed the world how thrilling this game of battle between the bat and ball with their aggressive batting, bowling, and fielding. Their icons skipper Clive Lloyd and Viv Richards proved their mettle by scoring brilliant centuries in the first and second world cups, respectively. The members of the international audience of the 1970s and 80s never forget the household names of cricket such as Ian Chappel, Ian Botham, Glen Turner, Richard Hardlee, Martin Crowe, Rohan Kanhai, Dennis Lilee, Keith Boyce, Mohinder Amarnath,Sunil Gavaskar, Ravi shastri, Dilip Vengsarkar Zaheer Abbas, Imran Khan, Abdul Qadir, Kapil Dev, Allan Donald, Jacques Kallis Arjuna Ranathunga, Aravinda de Silva, Sanath Jayasuriya and many more that lit up the firmament of cricket showing their outstanding brilliance and prowess. The first three world cups that were staged consecutively in the birthplace Lords in London in 1975,1979 and 1983 were 60 over matches though Indians were bowled out for 183 runs in 54.4.in the third world cup that was contested by eight counties including the newcomers Zimbabwe. In the third world cup tourney, the Indians proved their might and had the last laugh by putting an end to West Indies’ winning streak as their legendary all Kapil Dev led the team superbly to be crowned as the world champs. Windies were shot out for 140in this historic encounter. Then the 60 overs affairs got reduced to be a fifty over tourney from the fourth world cup that was staged in the Eden Gardens Stadium in Kolkata, India in 1987 where Australia grabbed their maiden world cup in a close battle against the formidable England.
Dominance of Cricket T20
Test Matches and ODIs have been the Centre of attraction for a long time as they gave excitement and thrill though the consumption of the time was lengthy. Then, gradually ODIs grabbed the attention of the international audience as Test matches are held for five long days consuming a lot of time. Again, the rapid march of ODIs got/have got hurdles due to various reasons. The hectic schedules of the modern world, thrust upon people, was one of the important reasons why the longer versions of cricket lost its prestige. Thus, the T20 got its inception and, Today T20 has been the dominant game as it needs a shorter duration such as three hours. The dwindling crowds at the stadiums, longer durations of the play and importantly sponsorships were some of the hurdles for the waning of popularity of longer versions of Cricket, Test Matches. and ODIs. With this gloomy background, the attraction of the younger generation is diverted with the third major variant of cricket, Twenty20 cricket that requires is played as a form of entertainment accommodating more teams to be in action. The invasion of the COVID-19 has strengthened its existence pushing aside the ODIs and Test Matches. The defending world cup champions England has the honour of introducing first ever Twenty20 Cricket match as it effectively conducted Inter County Tourney T20in 13th June 2003. with the blessings of (ECB.) but the game of T20 was born in New Zealand, a long time ago, precisely in 1990 as Cricket Max.
Today T20 is the most popular game of cricket as it is played in many countries across the globe. The year 2007 is indelible in the annals of the history of cricket as the inaugural ICC Men’s T20 World Cup was staged in Johannesburg in 2007 where archrivals India and Pakistan clashed in in a close battle in the final. Eventually, India clinched the championship with a five runs victory. There were 6 T20 world cups that were staged so far. They were held in 2007.2009,2010,2012,2014 and lastly in 2016.The next world cup is scheduled to be played in India in 2021.The West Indies are the current champions, besides claiming the T20 world cup in 2012 when this big show was held in Sri Lanka. Pakistan became world T20 champions in London in 2009 when it successfully chased the target of 138 losing just two wickets against Sri Lanka. In addition, England is the only other country that has reached the zenith of success in the T20 world cup as it convincingly beat Australia in Bridgetown, West Indies in 2010.
T20 Under Premier Leagues
There are as many as top 10 premier Leagues that conduct international T20 matches under various tournaments. They are Indian Premier League (IPL), Australia Big Bash League (BBL), T20 Blast League of England, Caribbean Premier League, Pakistan Super League, Ram Slam T20 League of South Africa, Bangladesh Premier League, Masters Champions League of UAE, Sri Lankan Premier League and Nepal Premier League. Of all these leagues IPL, the Indian Professional Twenty20 Cricket League is the cynosure of the whole cricket world as it has successfully completed takes the leading spot as it has completed 13 international T20 tournaments since its inception in 2008. This was the brainchild of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) that was founded in 2007. The IPL has given Brand Value to international cricketing icons and roped in the best of best players for its action-packed shows. The 2020th Edition of the IPL (13th Cup) was successfully staged in the United Arab Emirates due to the threat of the COVID-19. This carnival of cricket was a success and a big celebration as it dished out high quality cricket while adhering to the COVID Health Protocols to the letter. Millions of fans watched this one and half month power display and fireworks while being at their homes comfortably. The players for the next edition to be held in March, April and May are now being selected. The teams, Chennai Super Kings, Delhi Capitals, Kings XI Punjab, Kolkata Knight Riders, Mumbai Indians, Rajasthan Royals, Royal Challengers Bangalore and Sunrisers Hyderabad are the teams that are in the fray to win the championship of the 2021 edition of IPL T20.Mumbau Indians are the unbeaten side with five cups under their belt. The Sri Lankan former skipper Mahela Jayewardene has the credit to guide this team to bask in glory under the captaincy of Rohit Sharma. They claimed the titles defeating the Delhi Capitals by five wickets at Dubai International Stadium in Dubai on 09th November 2020.
T10 Cricket Carnival in Abu Dhabi
T10 is the latest variant of cricket that just needs 90 minutes for a completion of a match where as T20 consumes three hours. The other advantages are the international audience/spectators can easily watch a match as time can be easily allocated. There is no time difference between soccer, the number one game of the world and this latest format of cricket. Youngsters and youth can easily take to this game. It can be promoted in many counties so that it can gain more popularity shortly. As far as the players are concerned, they are safer in terms of fatigue and injuries. More teams and more matches can easily be stages in a shorter period of time. Particularly, the global threat such as the COVID-19 is at the doorstep it is high time that serious thought and consideration is given to new format to be implemented across the globe. The UAE has taken the lead with the blessings of the ICC to show T10 is the ideal game to dish out delight, entertainment, fun at this testing time of the pandemic that has no mercy for those who take the Health Protocols for granted. Obviously T10 is short and sweet to be dished out to all the fans of cricket across the globe.
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