Let's make Twenty 20 Cricket more interesting

Gen Next of cricket is here in the form of Twenty 20, and the Indian Cricket Board, after dilly dallying with the idea initially, has agreed to play ball, literally. The Indian team too, has tasted success in its first ever outing in South Africa

Indeed, Twenty 20 is the fast food version of One Day Cricket, which itself is the abridged version of the Test Cricket. Twenty 20 has been an instant hit in England, Australia and also South Africa, as was evident the other day. This format is absolutely TV friendly, and since the game gets over within three hours, is also best suited as an evening entertainment.

In its present format, where conventional eleven member teams bat for 20 overs a side, Twenty 20, is nothing but a slam-bang cricket dominated by big hitting batting. Will this kind of ‘do-or-die’ approach sustain interest in this form of cricket in the long run? I think, we need to introduce an element of thinking and strategy in this format too.

Presently, Twenty 20 is too batsman friendly and totally demoralizing to bowlers, however good they may be. An arithmetic reduction in the quota of overs for bowler, i.e. four overs per bowler, does not give much opportunity for the bowlers to bounce back in the game. Hence, each bowler should be permitted to bowl six overs instead of present four. If someone like Shaun Pollock or Makhaya Ntini is choking the batsmen, as they are doing to hapless Indians, so be it. It would be even better, if no over restrictions are placed.

Another radical suggestion is to restrict the number wickets to fall in an innings. It should be six. As soon as six wickets of a side are down, the innings should be considered over. This would force the batting team to think and play and shun the hit out or get out approach.

Other innovations like free hit and soccer style bowl-out in case of tie etc. are new and welcome innovations, which should continue.

By introducing a few small but vital changes, I am sure Twenty 20 will really become a rage in the coming years. What do you think?
-Manish Desai, New Delhi, 12/02/2007