by Rex Clementine 

Test cricket being the highest form of the game and a real test of character are all true no doubt but T-20 cricket has become the most popular format of the game for a variety of reasons. There’s more money being invested by sponsors for T-20 cricket as that’s where you see the younger generation getting involved.  In a fast paced world, after five days of Test cricket, younger generations find it difficult to come to terms with the fact that games can still end in no results. They are more comfortable with the fact that three hours of T-20 entertainment gives them a result.

The eighth edition of the event is taking place in Australia for the first time and the Aussies are known to be fabulous hosts and put up grand shows. Their government is giving the fullest backing with visa fees and biometrics exempted for players, officials and even journalists. With some entertaining finishes and new heroes, this tournament is expected to take the popularity of T-20 cricket further.

There’s an increasing trend for teams to engage in more T-20 cricket than Test matches. For example, Pakistan and England recently played seven T-20 Internationals but there’s only room for three Tests. Australia and Sri Lanka have ended up playing eight T-20s this year alone but their Test series won’t stretch beyond two games.

It is true that the money is in T-20 cricket, but it shouldn’t be at the expense of Tests. In reality, the tendency to play fewer Tests has become the norm as most boards end up incurring huge costs playing Tests and they make little money.

Countries like Sri Lanka need to be aware of the dangers of playing fewer Test matches. England, Australia and even India will not cut down on the number of Tests they play a year as they can sustain it even when they don’t make profits. Sri Lanka’s red ball players were involved in a Test series in July this year and need to wait till march next year for their next series.

It has only taken two decades for T-20 cricket to expand beyond imagination. The financial riches T-20 cricket has brought in is such that Sri Lankan cricketers now can afford to buy acres of prime land. No not just around Colombo, but even in places like Melbourne and Manchester.  Yes, that’s correct, acres of prime land. T-20 cricket was first introduced in England in 2003. Lord Ian MacLaurin, the boss of UK’s most successful supermarket chain Tesco was the head of England and Wales Cricket Board and he brought in much needed change for the game.

ECB Marketing Executive Stuart Robertson had been told to look into ways that would make cricket appealing to younger fans in Britain again. It had been observed that there was this notion that cricket was a sport for the wealthy. The sport was being played while most men and women in UK were at work.

Robertson noted that even in limited overs cricket, it took seven hours for a game to end. Furthermore, 50 overs cricket at that point was losing interest. The first 15 overs with field restrictions were on was exciting and then the last five with batters cashing in towards the end of the innings. Between overs 16 and 44 was considered as a boring phase of the game. So he decided to take off the period between overs 16 to 44 and condense it to a 20 over game hoping the excitement was there.Activities where children can come over and enjoy the game were introduced too like bouncy castles and swimming pools and the idea was immensely popular in England.

India brought into the argument reluctantly. Jagmohan Dalmiya, cricket’s most powerful man at that point walked into the Durban press box during the 2003 50 over World Cup semi-final and the British media told him about the success of T-20 cricket in UK and asked whether international cricket could accommodate another format. Dalmiya said that in his part of the world the game was thriving. His famous quote was, ‘when there’s a Test match in Calcutta, there are 100,000 people inside the ground and 100,000 people outside the ground.’

But all that changed four years later when India won the first T-20 World Cup in South Africa in 2007. BCCI hadn’t taken the tournament seriously and sent a second string team. But that team had a smart leader, a certain M.S.  Dhoni.  Once India won the title beating arch-rivals Pakistan, the interest for the new format went through the roof.

Cricket landscape was also changing in India at that point and more dynamic and young businessmen like Lalit Modi and N. Srinivasan were taking charge. They saw the huge potential a domestic T-20 tournament would have and the IPL was launched. Rest of the world followed suit with their own lucrative T-20 league and the rest as they say is history.