Lure, lucre of T20 overshadowed, at least for now.
By Sujeet Rajan
The biggest lesson learnt from the adrenaline-pumping India-Pakistan World Cup cricket match at the Adelaide Oval: 50 over matches are not at all an extinct breed, going the way of VCRs and CDs. They still have considerable charm and charisma, despite the overwhelming public response to the shorter form of the game, the ubiquitous T20 cricket, which now feast on countries’ cricket calendars like a swarm of bees in search of the last drop of nectar.
Indian cricket, more than any other nation infested by the virus called T20 mania, has of late been consumed by the rather subversive shorter format of the game, which most spectators know is like gulping down a gallon of coffee and feeling tizzy; in sharp contrast to the slow and rich headiness of a quality bottle of wine, brought about by sharp 50 over contests and test matches.
Of late, Indian cricket has also been guilty of being subsumed by the financials attached with the T20 format, with talent tainted with a Shylock-kind of mentality: hitting power (read talent) and worth measured only by who gets how much money in an IPL auction.
The greats of the game are sometimes confined to the smaller brand names like Big Bash or Caribbean tournaments, humiliated sometimes by not getting bought at all by franchises. Patient centuries on the international stage in Pujaresque fashion are seen merely as an aberration, and sometimes even a disqualification for big bucks.
Stock performance for a franchise, paisa vasool for team executives, mean players who can deliver, or butcher 20 runs in an over to swing the match; bowlers who can consistently take the most number of wickets, giving the least number of runs. Lesser known players often take center-stage than internationally recognized giants who have proved their worth in 50 over formats or Test matches.
Thus, it was glorious to watch the Indian team construct an innings against Pakistan like in the days of old when T20 was non-existent, in their debut match at the 2015 World Cup.
The 300 runs notched up, despite being the highest against Pakistan in a World Cup encounter, as well as Virat Kohli’s 100 plus being the first century scored by an Indian batsmen in six encounters between the two teams, was more significant for the almost slow-burn plodding-style adopted by Shikhar Dhawan, Kohli and Suesh Raina to stitch together their insurmountable target, and ultimately win by 76 runs.
The implosion at the end of the Indian innings, when India managed to score only 25 runs in 5 overs, losing 5 wickets, was hint of madness honed at T20 tournaments. During the same period, if India had not thrown their bats about carelessly, focused on just getting 8 runs per over, it would have surely meant getting to 315, and perhaps losing less number of wickets. But habits learned at the IPL are hard to forget, less erase it altogether.
But despite that ungainly mess at the end, including from Mahendra Singh Dhoni, what the build-up to the 300 did was to show the merits of 50 over matches, even to the newest generation of avid cricket lovers who have fallen in love with the game watching T20 power, swear by it on social media.
The deconstruction of Pakistan, as they lost their way, and then captain Misbah ul-Haq’s magnificent solo, though futile fight-back showed what could have been only if the team had kept their wits intact, not let stomach churning images of derision and ridicule being heaped on them as they returned back home from their misadventures Down Under, fell them psychologically.
The best thing also to have happened for 50 over cricket, in the era of the blitzkrieg and growing popularity of T20 formats, is to have this edition of the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, where the true pitches help teams get over the 300 mark. The contests so far have been engrossing; the almost eight hours spent watching a game worth it.
There was an ugly feeling creeping around cricketing circles and the discerning public that the glamor and fortunes of cricket were being dictated by T20s – with the disturbing vagaries of the West Indies cricket team, who seem like a team of individual millionaires out for a jog at the World Cup to prepare for the race ahead at lucrative T20 seasons ahead, being a case in point.
India’s game against Pakistan, which displayed strategy and skill in ample measure, has gone a long way to dispel that notion. But for how long, it remains to be seen.
1 Comment
Well effort Indian team,
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