Twenty20 vision provides great sights
Have you heard the one about the cricket tournament that began in March but is still going on?
Yes, for some of us, the 50-over World Cup seemed interminable, and when we finished our marathon stint in we wondered what the future held for that type of cricket.
At the time, I suggested a serious bucking up of ideas was needed to wade off the threat of a bright new kid on the block.
Well, having witnessed the World Twenty20 extravaganza in South Africa, albeit via television, I have to say the dangers for 50-over cricket are clear and present.
From the moment , this competition has been everything Twenty20 fans dreamed off 鈥 and stuffy traditionalists feared.
When , not known for his rapid scoring, declares himself a big admirer, you have to say it鈥檚 been a success.
Yes there have been mismatches and games where it hasn鈥檛 always been edge-of-the-seat stuff, but as a colleague of mine put it: 鈥淓ven when this is rubbish at least it鈥檚 over quickly.鈥
How many times has your mind wandered in a 50-over international with the result of the game decided well before the end? I was never a huge fan of the format to start with but over the last few years, with the endless supply of series, I鈥檝e begun to view it with contempt.
I am not alone among cricket lovers in feeling that.
By complete contrast, I can only think of a couple of Twenty20 games involving Kenya and Bangladesh where there hasn鈥檛 been something to keep me glued to the screen/radio.
OK there have been several occasions when the over-rate has been poor 鈥 certainly nowhere near as brisk as in the county version of the game 鈥 and why on earth is the final of a major sporting event taking place on a Monday afternoon?
But those are minor gripes compared with the pleasure this inaugural edition has provided.
Who will forget the What about the between India and Pakistan? And then there was over the Aussies; India鈥檚 brilliant triumph which knocked hosts South Africa out, and two gripping semi-finals, particularly
And then the final. What a game!
India looked out of it, then Pakistan were dead and buried, then Misbah-ul-Haq appeared to have won it for Pakistan before his risky shot handed India glory.
Just that paragraph alone sums up why this event has had everything the 50-over World Cup was lacking.
This time we had teams challenging Australia鈥檚 dominance (although no-one will be surprised if they bounce back from their semi-final exit to become the undisputed masters of the short-game too), strong performances from superpowers India and Pakistan, and genuine entertainment with real input from vociferous crowds.
With a going on and pervading the back pages and pub discussions every day, it has been heartening to note how much enthusiastic talk the World Twenty20 has generated, even among tired old hacks.
OK 鈥 but at the end of this tournament I feel much happier about the state of the sport than I did five months ago.
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By being the first country to win the T20 World Cup, mighty India has written a new chapter in cricketing history. Gambhir and Rohit were outstanding. ArPy, Pathan and Joginder Sharma did well with the ball. Pakistan put up a spirited show. Their bowlers did a tidy job and the batsmen too looked good till the final over. Congratulations to the winners and to their gallant challengers. T20 World Cup in South Africa has been a happy hunting ground for the cricketing giants of the subcontinent.
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Couldn't agree more with what you have said here. My biggest fear for cricket is that it will not be able to draw spectators in the future, will lose money as a result, and will be marginalized by debt and lack of interest.
For the entire 20/20 tournament the crowds have been good and I hear seven figure sums being thrown at us from the Caribbean. Cricket finally seems to have found a format that can generate mass participation.
Vulgar though it sounds, as long as there is plenty of money in the system, I believe that cricket will stay afloat for the foreseeable future.
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and why on earth is the final of a major sporting event taking place on a Monday afternoon?
Because if they had held it on Sunday it would have clashed with the Pro40 play-off silly!
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This is so stupid bringing religion into the game. I don't see any reason why shoaib thanking only the Muslim worlds by saying "First of all I'd like to thank people back home and the Muslims around the world.".
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I foresee something else. I believe other sport crazy nations will try their hand at it. The entertainment is there but more importantly it requires skills and a strong nerve to last in this tournament. No sports fan can resist that. It is a difficult game to understand but once you have the hang for it, you just love it.
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I like Twenty20, but I firmly believe that the 50-over game should be retained. The danger inherent in a highly abbreviated form of cricket, like Twenty20, is that an obsession with batting and big-hitting becomes standard. Whilst bowlers and fielders should not be exempted from the pressure to adapt, I can't help but feel that Twenty20 represents the shift of the modern game away from the contest between bowler-and-batsman and more to a contest of 'he who slogs, wins'.
The 50-over game needs better organisation and a further re-think, not scrapping. Furthermore, the ICC should consider how they ought to tackle the threat of excessively high scoring in the OD form of the game, perhaps by limiting bat-size and easing field restrictions in favour of the fielding teams at such competitions. For example, field restrictions could be waived whilst playing Twenty20, but retained for 50 over matches.
India deserved to win, but I couldn't help but feel sorry for Haq: it was a brilliant innings and an enthralling contest, one which I hope to see more of. Certainly Afridi deserved player of the tournament and personally, if he hadn't got himself out so early, he could have carried Pakistan to victory in the final.
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What a game! India won without Sachin-Souav-Dravid trio or may be India won because of their absence. Finally, India won silverware....hopefully, we don't have to wait another 24 years to get another one. NO FEAR! Cricket display from Team India has worked and won for us.
It is a God-sent victory for BCCI and no wonder they have showered millions and a crore on this winning team.
If this format becomes hit in crickett-mad India does anyone think that the rebel ICL will become 'dead on arrival'?
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It's been a fun tournament, and anything that gets up the noses of the fuddy-duddy cricketing establishment has to be a good thing if the fans are loving it. But too much Twenty20 would diminish its appeal. The quiet attritional periods of a Test match, of players in whites looking to hang on to the tea break and save the follow-on is a beautiful thing too. There must be space for both.
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What a game! India won without Sachin-Souav-Dravid trio or may be India won because of their absence. Finally, India won silverware....hopefully, we don't have to wait another 24 years to get another one. NO FEAR! Cricket display from Team India has worked and won for us.
It is a God-sent victory for BCCI and no wonder they have showered millions and a crore on this winning team.
If this format becomes hit in crickett-mad India does anyone think that the rebel ICL will become 'dead on arrival'?
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why shohaib malik thanked all muslims. Because not every Muslim in the world supports pakistan's team. There are many muslim indians who obviously supports Great Young Indian Team and muslims around the world supports their own favourite team.
but finally I am very happy with the performance of indian team and i think they deserve to be the first world 20/20's champion.....
Keep on Going INDIA!!!!!!!!!!!
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What a game! India won without Sachin-Souav-Dravid trio or may be India won because of their absence. Finally, India won silverware....hopefully, we don't have to wait another 24 years to get another one. NO FEAR! Cricket display from Team India has worked and won for us.
It is a God-sent victory for BCCI and no wonder they have showered millions and a crore on this winning team.
If this format becomes hit in crickett-mad India does anyone think that the rebel ICL will become 'dead on arrival'?
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And for Pakistan,you are second BEST...Great job Dhoni and co.Congrats...What a Game...Forget 50/50...
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Yep - fantastic tournamnet but as you say - why WAS the final on a Monday afternoon? What sort of lunacy was that? Great for Asian fans I suppose with the time difference but bit of an anti-climax for me at work!!
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it was played on a monday because in South Africa its a public holiday 2day
Great game tho, credit to india but pakistan should have won from teh position they were in, silly shot, he coulda done a lot more with that ball, like hit it straught but he made his mind up b4 the bowler bowled and paid the price
Great tournament, hopefully the 50 over world cup will be like this next time, not dragged out for 2 months or whatever it was in the end, 4 weeks should be adequate for the 50 over world cup!!!!
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Rightly or wrongly, for me the pinnacle of cricket must be test cricket. In test cricket (and other "first-class" cricket) you have to score more runs than the other team AND bowl them out twice.
I certainly find T20 exciting and I admire the incredible feats of some players in that form of the game. The same is true of the "traditional" ODI's. At the same time, it would bother me if limited overs matches became the "main events" and test cricket became secondary. Perhaps we already have this situation in the minds of some people. I also wonder how long the "new" cricket fans who follow T20 will remain interested after the novelty has worn off and how many will start to acquire a taste for the first-class game.
I think there is still a role for the 50-over ODIs. Although the last England-India series was outstanding, 7 is too many.
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I enjoyed the 20-20 games that were close and ebbed and flowed. India and Pakistan seemed to have the ability to play each other to the last over. Great final. However let's not forget the recent really exciting ODI Series between England and India. Also a closely fought series. Whatever the form of cricket there is the chance to excel and to have even big hitting. Let us not forget the Big Five was in that ODI Series that inspired Singh's Big Six in reply. There were some tight games in the One Day World Cup too. And will anyone ever forget Ireland's triumphs? Let's not rubbish achievements.
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im very happy for india as a nation and as a cricket team, however i dont think we will be celebrating on saturday come 5pm when the aussies let out their anger!!
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pakistan played well but misbah shot was wrong and the opening was not goo
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What a fantastic final and overall tremendously exciting competition. I wish cricket was always this good.
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Congratulations to both India and Pakistan. What an exciting match! You have shown us how Cricket should be played. Tired old cricket hacks, prodders and flannelled fools will have to roll over and make way for the new...not so much in England. Over half-a-billion people in South Asia must have watched the game. What is good and true is that a new generation has come to forefront in Indian and Pakistani team. They have quickly taken over from the likes of Tendulkar, and Inzamaam. England have a lot to learn from this. Cricket, renewed, is here to stay and excite us more.
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I would like Brett Lee's hat-trick for Australia also recognized as another memorable moment of the 2007 Twenty/20 to be treasured by all cricket-lovers.It was stated as the first hat-trick(3 wickets in 3 balls) in this encounter that ought to go down in annals of cricket as such.Please ensure this event is given the recognition it deserves.Thanks very much
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Regarding the final being played on a Monday, it was a public holiday (bank holiday) over here in South Africa.
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misbah ul haq shud of wackd dat last ball
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Regarding the final being played on a Monday, it was a public holiday (bank holiday) over here in South Africa.
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Why don't you put a 20/20 test match - with 2 - 20 innings for each team, providing the usual test match follow-ons and other rules apply And make the two teams reduce the number of players from 11 to 8 or something less. Then it will be more fast !!! and not to wait for 5 - FIVE !!!!!! DAYS to get a DRAW result at the end.
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I enjoyed the 20-20 games that were close and ebbed and flowed. India and Pakistan seemed to have the ability to play each other to the last over. Great final. However let's not forget the recent really exciting ODI Series between England and India. Also a closely fought series. Whatever the form of cricket there is the chance to excel and to have even big hitting. Let us not forget the Big Five was in that ODI Series that inspired Singh's Big Six in reply. There were some tight games in the One Day World Cup too. And will anyone ever forget Ireland's triumphs? Let's not rubbish achievements.
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Guys, the final was played on a Monday because of a public holiday in SA. The semis also were played on Saturday so it was a breather for both the teams.
I guess they did not anticipate Ind-Pak final or I can bet the tournament would have started on Mon 10-Sep and ended on Sun 23-Sep. The final would've been at prime-time in India (Sun evening).
Overall, nothing much to choose between the teams, but all credit to India to have defended a small total and never giving up. Misbah got it wrong twice in pressure situations - it is hard to score off the final over, but it was the way he paced his innings which was the culprit. He left it too late till the last over, given that the wickets were going down consistently on the other end.
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Twenty20 is cricket's version of baseball. To some that may not sound good, but simply compare baseball and cricket now. In the past, baseball wasn't exactly pretty, but at least it didn't last for a ridiculous 5 days. Now there's no competition - not only has Twenty20 got all the big hitting of baseball, but it is also immeasurably more crafty, creative, inventive and skillful.
We've been talking about ODI's and Tests being under threat, but maybe baseball should be casting nervous looks as well.
For once, cricket has something it can sell unashamedly to undiscovered markets.
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It was the game that won this tournament. As Rusty rightly pointed out the ecstasy of most fans is because the two titans of the sub-continent clashed for the trophy and what a close match!! Though the sub-continent provides the mass base for the game, opportunities like these are rare to come by for both these nations. Aussies have completely dominated all versions of the game for more than a decade now and everyone has grudgingly accepted that. It should be understandable why the fans rejoice trouncing a opposition that reads like England, South Africa and Aussies, Newzeland (Well, Pak beat them).
Couple posts earlier Rusty Says 鈥淚 notice all your top moments, bar one, involved Indians and Pakistanis only. And they all involved defeating the whites.鈥 Race 鈥 look who is talking about it !! Everybody lost count of the racial abuses heralded against the non-whites in what is supposedly a gentleman鈥檚 game. Yes, cricket is like a religion and a unifying force in this part of the world and if you play rugby as they do in Auz, NZ, SA and ENG you are from a different race LOL !!
Mate, I would rather want to believe that you wanted to highlight the format's pros and cons.
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Fantastic result and performance from a largely second string Indian team - wonder how many will keep there place come Saturday against Australia?
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"Thanks to all the Muslims in the world"? Maybe it is a typical Arabic/Urdu phrase that Shoaib directly translated to English. Would someone from Pakistan care to explain? In any case, it's not really his fault. His English is weak at the moment but it'll get better over time like Inzy's did.
That said, tight game but glad we won! Till he went for that weird scoop with 4 balls remaining, I thought Misbah had done a Javed on us.
Can't believe Afridi got Man of the Series when Gul deserved it way more.
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This was a great tournament - but we knew it would be because T20 always provides brilliant entertainment because of its ability to change so quickly.
The final was certainly a fitting way to finish and credit to both sides for producing such a great spectacle.
However, it doesn't mean that the 50 over game is dead & buried. The ICC need to accept that they made huge errors in both pricing & tournament structure (although getting them to accept blame for anything would be a start) and then learn from it.
Clearly a shorter tournament is vital as is the need to reduce the amount of dead games that are played.
I would start by increasing sqaud sizes & reducing rest periods between games. Also cut back on the super 6 or 8's or whatever they are called.
2 groups followed by sudden death knock out and look at the stats to see what external factors other than good play effect the result & then work out ways to reduce the importance of winning the toss.
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At 04:46 AM on 25 Sep 2007, Rusty wrote: I wonder if you and most of these fans, would be so ecstatic, Paresh Soni, about Twenty20 if South Africa, New Zealand or Australia had won. I notice all your top moments, bar one, involved Indians and Pakistanis only. And they all involved defeating the whites.
Fair enough, if you're pleased to see teams from the sub-continent do well at last, but don't let sentiment blind you to the format's pros and cons.
It can still be short rubbish, to paraphrase your colleague.
That is exactly what happened in the tournament climax isn't it. South Africa is not the team that you can classify in the same category.
Also if you care to know there is deep division between Indians and Pakistanis with all that has happened in the cricketing and non cricketing world. I can only imagine how hard could it have been for Paresh to glorify Pakistan.
Very surprised that 主播大秀 readers form such opinion.
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I really enjoy this format of the game. A. it only took 2 weeks to finish the whole tournament,. b. you only needed several hrs to watch the match. c. All the game were very exciting and nail bitting. Lots of Sixes, Players getting bowled. Lot of good fielding,
Only thing that I did not like is those Dancing girls. They just don't belong there.
Well played India
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i don't think we can come to a conclusion basing on one tournament and say ODI gonna extinct. i don't know what experts might have said when ODIs come into picture, ( i didn't even born at that time, so some one who knows those days may give some inputs) even today test cricket didn't loose its aura.
undoubtedly T20 was great fun and quick action may be like rapid chess.
end of the day Test cricket is cricket, ODI mini cricket & T20 micro cricket.
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The T20 final between Pak vs. India was straight from a Rocky movie...the game was matched toe to toe and punch to punch...I am a Pak fan but India vs. Pak rocks...win or lose...no sporting rivalry can beat that. Take that...the Ashes!
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The final should have been played on the Sunday which was a travesty.I can only assume that the football calendar was so congested for Sky Sports that they had no alternative as they seem to dictate all sports
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The world Twenty20 certainly seems to have been a success.
I say 'seems' because, as someone who doesn't have Sky, I didn't actually see any of the games so it's difficult to make a definitive judgement.
Could someone explain to me why neither the 主播大秀 (who had Ashes/World Cup highlights) or Five (with their Test match highlights) were able to show highlights of the world Twenty20?
That said, the TMS coverage on Freeview, with all the graphics, was excellent, as was the commentary. It's no surprise that listening figures for TMS are on the rise.
It was also good that they kept listeners up to date with the score from The Oval on Saturday in one of the best finishes to the County Championship for years.
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I'm not so sure about the fate of 50 over cricket. Most of the people I have spoken to think Twenty20 is fun to watch but not as good as the "real" thing. Also, don;t forget what happened in England during the Ashes. I don;t think you would have seen so much excitment if it had been the World Cup Twenty20 (I guess we'll find out in a few years).
Sigmar
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Good game overall was an exciting match 2 watch, pakistan played well judging by the pressure they were under. Good on ya guys.
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Isn't it a shame that the WORLD cUP OF 20/20 CRICKET WAS NOT BEING SEEN BY THE MAJORITY OF PEOPLE ON TELEVISION. Watching a continuing changing the score card does not to me show cricket being able to be shown live. We have had Rugby World cup , Womens WORLD Cup and 50 OVER wORLD cup shown on mainstream tv plus the test. Why haven't the bbc being able to get hold of the rites to show highlights of the 20/20 world cup. What a great final from what has been said , but wouldn't have ben nice to show highlights of the final on tv. We need crickey back on mainstrem properly now and especially for the next 20/20 tournament.
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ciao,adios,bye bye,asta la vista baby 50/50.welcome 20/20.god bless the new formet...haleluah....vz...sa...usa...
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The reason for the final being on a monday afternoon........ It was a public holiday (Heritage day) here in South Africa.
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I think the 50 over game must be retained but I also think that the world cup for the 50 over game must be revamped. Its rather too long and so two matches must be played in one day with one being a day match and the other a day/night match. There will be a time when the matches overlap but it doesn't matter as long as the tournament finishes quicker.
The Twenty20 tournament has been fascinating and hats off to the hosts - South Africa.
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