Twenty20: Fun or the Future?

Recently, a new form of international cricket has taken the limelight from the traditional great cricket series such as India against Pakistan (well, that is Pakistan's fault). However, with this new widespread of surge of the shorter Twenty20 format, several orthodox cricketers and past legends have criticized this exciting format. The most surprising one I find personally is Younis Khan's, the captain of the Pakistani team which was the winner of the recent Twenty20 World Cup. He was quoted conveying apathetic feelings after his team's loss to England since to him this version of the game is just for pure fun and no seriousness. He said it's just for the entertainment of fans.

But Younis, isn't everything? This is the exact reason why cricket has recently failed to make it big in the international stage where the busy city-dwellers bask in a back-and-forth 90 minute game of football/soccer, 60 minute game of American football or 48 minute game of basketball, where cricket offers, at it's truest, 5 days of pure...boredom. After having seen some Twenty20 games, I can barely manage to watch a full ODI and I wonder how did I ever manage to watch the same damn game for 5 days straight.

Since cricket has not been able to capture a wide audience it has also lost financially, whereas stars of other sports bathe in riches of millions of dollars a year. Twenty20 is the only way to make this game more interesting, attract a larger international crowd and financially support the ICC.

Comment and share your thoughts! - Magnum