Sunday, September 16, 2007

Twenty20

I like Twenty20.

While cynics will scoff at it for being completely against the spirit of the natural cricket game, it brings to viewers great excitement, quicker matches and lovely shots - cricketing or not.

Apart from the fast pace and zest on the ground to get moving, the game also brings to fore a few extra characteristics other than cricketing skills - it brings to fore skills like character, playing under pressure, thinking out of the box and thinking superfast. It brings about a speed to the game one sees so rarely while watching the leisurely test cricket.

It requires a complete different set of characteristic really and that is what makes it different and exciting.

It makes heroes of players normally ignored in the comparatively longer versions of the game, it brings in a difference to the normal game and is obviously raw, but will soon gain ground.

I think that with changing times, one needs to appreciate a younger breed of talent, bring in changes which make the game popular and more watchable.

It has been fun so far, with the likes of Gayle, Jayasuriya, Gibbs and Pieterson setting the tournament on fire. While it makes bowlers suffer many ignominious moments, the very focus of the game is on batsmen. Bowlers can take a heart that there are test matches still being played.
:-)

We shall enjoy the game, in whatever way the bat and the ball fight with each other!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

People who love the game will love it in whatever form it is presented. We played 20-20 as kids and it was quite something! Survodaya Society v/s Kalpataru Society was bigger than Ashes! A 20-20 between these two giants of Vile Parle (East) would make India-Pak rivalry pale to ingnificance. Both the teams carried some gifted criketers who went on to become ordinary engineers, doctors or make a buck in commerce and business. Too bad that Mumbai and India lost out on quite a bit of talent.
Coming back to the format of the game.Kalpataru and Survodaya society should have filed a patent for this version of the game. The least the organisers of this world cup could do is ackowledge that it was these two great housing societies from Vile Parle (East) that invented the game!
Tell you Ranjeet it was tremendous - Seniors in the team had just barely joined the junior colleges. The more experienced members on both sides were from secondary school and these together with a veritable majority from various promary schools in Vile Parle, would take to the field in half chaddis on a nice dewey ground! This cream of the cream from the two societies would also be accompanied by a sizeable band of supporters in the form of brothers and sisters. Those brothers (and sisters too...with due respect to Komal Chautalas and Preeti Sabharwals of cricket) who did not make it to the final eleven would cheer the teams, play the scorers for the two sides or even carry water and yes - your favorite lemonade too!!
The match itself would then follow ....every ball of the twenty twenty was bitterly contested...no quarter was asked for and none given. No stone was left unturned to steal a single on the pitch and off it. Off the pitch by convincing the opposition scorer that ones were twos and two were threes or the other way around depending on which side you supported. I will need a separate blog to describe some of the memorable battles between the two sides...there were too many of them..and some indeed culminated in a different sport altogether...boxing, WWF and such! Indeed it will be worth penning down the fantastic exploits of some of the cricket stars on either side
The best match I remember was the one played on a hot afternoon during the summer vacation. We were put into bat at around 11am with the idea of making us toil in the post lunch session heat. We scored something like 84 runs by half past one, broke for lunch, asked the opposing side to hold on to the pitch till we were back and then had our lunch and..... then we slept through the afternoon!!!!!
If you were on our side that day, you would have conceded that lemonade at home tastes better, after a nice outing with the bat and lunch.

You can guess what the opposing captain thought of it. But... To this day I wonder.... what his team made of his decision to put us in in.

:-P

cheers,
Sanjeev

Ranjeet said...

Hi Sanjeev,

Nostalgia!!! Yes, I too remember our chawl matches and the amazingly innovative rules we had therein. Much before RObin Uthappa played that lofted shot over fine leg, Barkya had done the same in our Chawl matches to a great effect! :-)
Who cared about patenting these thigns back then? Otherwise lot of patents in cricket would have been with Survodaya, Kalpataru Societies, Anadashram chawl, engineering hostels etc.
The trick you guys played on the opposing captain who put you in was awesome only!!! :-) Am sure that the captain learnt his lessons that day.