God Bless Twenty20!

Despite the tremendous success of Twenty20 cricket – highlighted by the September World Cup, confirmed by the ICL, and then reconfirmed as a smashing hit by IPL, there are still people believing, and trying to force others into believing, that this version trivializes cricket!

They cry hoarse about the decline of their beloved cricket, played in traditional way. Suddenly, even ODI cricket has become a traditional fare, whose ’’imminent demise’’ has to be bemoaned in every possible way.

They decry that the like of Vijay Mallya and Mukesh Ambani, and their big corporations, are out to enslave this beautiful game.

Take a break mate. And use some common sense. Even before IPL came, big corporations were controlling cricketing stakes the World over. Wills, Sahara, Pepsi, Coke – these are not your neighbourhood kirana stores after all!

And when was cricket without its share of glamour Sir. Who were the subcontinent girls dying for in cricket heydays of 70s and 80s – Mudassar Nazar or Imran Khan, Bhagwat Chandrashekhar or Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi!

As Mandira Bedi said in one of the programmes, stars were always present in such big number at places like Sharjah to watch the ODIs, then called pyjama cricket. Only that they are paid much more now to be brand ambassadors, with few even mustering up the courage to buy teams.

Those who have witnessed their cricket from close quarters, understand that in course of time all forms will survive. Test Cricket did not die because of ODIs, and Tests and ODIs will not die because of Twenty20.

Rather, Twenty20 will help batsmen discover and master few more strokes, which will enable increase in scoring rate in all the versions.

Besides, this version has created so much more employment opportunities for some promising cricketers.

Gony is no longer a badly spelled Dhoni and God Bless twenty20 cricket for that!