SPORTS
Twenty20: cricket's new avatar
SURESH MENON
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It doesn't take much to make fun of Twenty20 cricket, but the idea is to have fun with it.
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In recent years, cricket has become a television sport in India. Spectators are not a part of the equation. Now here's a splendid chance for the Board to bring families back to the stands.
Old game, new format: Twenty20 brings the backyard games into the mainstream. Photo: REUTERS
TWENTY20 is cricket's first attempt at becoming an inclusive sport. It appeals to the child in us — the same child who first played the game in the backyard pretending to be all 11 players of a World XI. It doesn't take much to make fun of it, but the idea is to have fun with it.
Most of us have memories of backyard games, where we were India, England or the West Indies or players like Tiger Pataudi or Garry Sobers depending on whether patriotism or hero-worship won.
Quick games
The game lasted the couple of hours between returning from school and getting down to homework. Rules varied. You could be given out for hitting over the wall; there were extra runs if you hit the tree at mid-wicket; if you hit the straight wall above a certain height, you could be out; below that imaginary line, it was six. Depending on where you played, the rules changed. When my son was younger, we played a version inside the house. If you hit the window you were out; if you hit the television, both were out (of the room, that is).
On rain days, even international cricketers sometimes play an artificial game in corridors and dressing rooms. You could be out caught first bounce. Rahul Dravid didn't pretend he was me; but otherwise it was the same game.
The International Cricket Council has removed the walls, taken away the windows, flattened the trees, put stylish clothes and equipment on the players, brought in live bands, added a speed dating competition or two, and painted our childhood games in sophisticated colours. It is a fine example of marketing men taking something that already existed, refining it and fixing TV rights for it.
Stuart Robinson, the former marketing manager of the England and Wales Cricket Board, who is credited with devising Twenty20 has said it is "intended as a stepping stone for people to watch the longer version of the game". It is a means to an end. The former Aussie player Tim May has expressed much the same sentiment, "If you like the taste, you buy the bottle and if you like the bottle you buy the case." This sounds like they are apologising for the new format, whose sole aim seems to be to bring in more spectators to the established forms of the game.
This misses the point. Twenty20 can exist by itself, for itself. Test cricket should not be allowed to contaminate Twenty20, which is pure entertainment. It is the best package to attract new audiences in the U.S. and China. And it could even be an Olympic sport when London hosts the event in 2012.
Beginnings
Twenty20 cricket was born on Friday, June 13, 2003. "Twice the action, half the time" was the catch line. Earlier, a media release as a build-up to the inaugural match between The Hampshire Hawks and The Sussex Sharks informed fans:
1. This is the first time a pop band has played at a county cricket match.
2. The two hours 45 minutes is precisely half the length of the previously shortest game in this country.
3. A TV audience of three million is expected for the competition.
4. The batsmen will have just 90 seconds to get to the crease after a wicket falls.
5. Rock bands Mis-Teeq and D'Side will be playing live at the opening match.
6. The competition theme tune "I don't like cricket, I love it" is a remake of the 10cc "Dreadlock Holiday" hit.
7. The rock band Atomic Kitten will be playing live at the final.
8. Fancy dress and face painting are being encouraged at the matches.
9. United Colours of Sound's lead singer's auntie was the interior designer of Brian Lara's house.
There was more, but this captures the flavour, although I am not sure what Brian Lara's house had to do with it.
Not surprisingly, India treated it with contempt. This was history repeating itself — three decades earlier, they treated one-day cricket with contempt too. India's decision, therefore, to embrace Twenty20 cricket, hold a national tournament for it and even take part in the World Cup in South Africa next year means they are beginning to see the dollar signs. When one-day cricket made its international debut, India was the last country to give it its proper due. Nobody, not the players, not the officials, not the media, took one-day cricket seriously, insisting that Test cricket was the "real thing" and that genuine cricketers played only Test cricket.
Ironically, now that Twenty20 cricket is here, one-day cricket is being termed "traditional". This is the fate of revolutionary innovations — they go from being laughed at to being accepted reluctantly to becoming part of the establishment. If Twenty20 catches on (Inzamamul Haq thinks it will be the most popular form of the game in five years' time), one-day cricket might be squeezed out.
Indian reaction
The secretary of the Board of Control for Cricket in India, Niranjan Shah,is apologetic about the sport. "We were outvoted 10-1 at the ICC meeting," he said, "So we had no other go but to embrace this format." Still, I doubt if the Board will have any problem attracting sponsors, television or public interest. Such is the pull of the game in the country. They might even succeed in getting spectators to the venues — this after all, is what the game is about — and entertain them with music, fashion shows, interactive games, and of course, some cricket. Twenty20 can easily become a part of our everyday life whether we go school, college or work in offices and that is its biggest selling point.
In recent years, thanks to the lack of concern at most venues, cricket has become a television sport in India. Spectators are not a part of the equation. Now here's a splendid chance for the Board to bring families back to the stands by improving facilities, by emphasising the element of fun and attracting boys and girls for whom the action in the middle is only one of the many charms on a day out. Let's have music, let's have colour, let's not lose sight of the basic fact that cricket is only a sport after all. And one to be enjoyed.
Maybe we can even introduce non-cricketers in the teams. Think of a Mumbai XI led by Sachin Tendulkar and with Aamir Khan in it; or a Hyderabad XI with Sania Mirza playing for them. Anything is possible in 20 overs. This is not the time for snobbery.
The latest Wisden almanac says this about Twenty20: "The problem is the brevity: what makes a Twenty20 game so popular as a family outing is also what makes it so curiously unengaging as a spectator sport. There are no ebbs and flows, no changes of gear, no second and third acts. It is a mass-produced Scotch egg washed down with canned lager — something one consumes almost without noticing. It leaves no glow of pleasure, no memories to be savoured."
Funny, but isn't that what they said about one-day cricket some years ago?
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Game plan
* Matches are of 20 overs per side
* A bowler cannot bowl more than four overs.
* Only two fielders are allowed outside the 30-yard circle in the first six overs
* A batsman gets a 'free hit' after a no ball (he can only be run out off this delivery)
* In the event of a tie, a bowl out decides the winner. Here, each team gets to bowl at the stumps (without a batsman) five times, with victory going to the team with the most hits. If bowl out cannot decide, then the teams go into sudden death.
* The Duckworth-Lewis method will be used in interrupted matches (each side should have faced a minimum of five overs).
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