The Hindu : Sport / Cricket : Miandad against promotion of T20 cricket

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Tuesday, Sep 25, 2007
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Miandad against promotion of T20 cricket

Karachi: Former Pakistan captain Javed Miandad says he is not a great fan of Twenty20 matches as he does not consider it real cricket.

“It is nothing but festival cricket where people come for a few hours to enjoy themselves. But this cricket does not test your endurance, physical fitness or batting and bowling skills. It is bang bang stuff,” he said.

He pointed out that in the World Twenty20 over 200 sixes had been hit but questioned how many twos or threes had been run by the batsmen.

Destroying skills

“It is a waste of time for the bowlers. Everything is loaded against them and the batsmen are destroying their skills. I just fear that if the International Cricket Council or its boards insist on cashing in on the popularity of this format, it will kill Test cricket,” he said.

Miandad said that the ICC and member boards needed to be very careful and see to it that they are not seduced and lured by the commercial success of the Twenty20.

“If they try to cash in this new form of cricket I fear there will come a time when no one will come to watch Test or one-day international matches. You would be having a new generation of players taking to the game without developing any proper technique or quality skills.” Miandad said if Twenty20 was allowed to flourish it could lead to a situation where it would be difficult for the board to find sponsors for Test matches which he said remained the real cricket. — PTI

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