When we pass from one generation to another generation we can notice that a lot of things change. It is also happening to cricket. Its changing everyday. Will this stop someday? When I asked my grandpa about cricket he is awakening a lot of happy memories about test cricket. He talked a lot about Sir Don Bradman, Sir Garfield Sobers, Sir Len Hutton and Michael Thisera Anura Tennakoon. When I asked the same question from my father he is happily talking about one day internationals than test matches. He is talking about the excitement of the result oriented one day internationals which is widely spread all over the world after 1975 world cup. Then I turn around to my son who is a teen. And Oh God! All he talks about is the cricket’s instant version of T20 Cricket. He is not bothering about test cricket at all. He is telling me “See papa, it is lasting only three hours! And it is very very exciting. And it also suits nicely to our busy life style”. And what can I say to him? This is how cricket comes through the generations. If this trend continues, I cannot imagine what will happen to cricket in the next generation. When we develop, techniques should get better and better. Equipment, techniques, language, etc. should get changed from the yesteryear. It is good for the sake of cricket. the best example is umpire’s decisions. What he sees with his naked eye may be wrong. It may be the cause to end a great inning of a batsmen. But today improved techniques will assist the umpire to make his decision. Now he can give almost correct decisions than in yesteryears. This kind of things are very helpful in the game of cricket.
But the worrying factor is changing the version of cricket. When the one day version is introduced in 1971 lot of cricket journalists said that it will be a damage to the test cricket. It has happened to some extent. A lot of spectators move from test cricket to one day internationals because the thought five days of cricket without a result is a boring thing. It has remained for 3.5 decades like that. Then what happened? Some pundits thought that one days should also be changed because when a bating side collapse their top batsmen within the first half of the match, the remainder will not offer much entertainment to the spectators. That idea led to cricket’s instant T20 version. This T20 version kills the spirit of the game and batsman’s techniques. Everything is instant. If we take food as an example, do you believe a doctor would recommend us instant food? No, he will never recommend that because it isn’t good for our health. This T20 is also like that. It is not good for the game of cricket. The worst scenario is this T20 version entering school cricket. My opinion is that it will kill cricket. If this continues can you expect batsmen like Sunil Gavaskar, Jeff Boycott, Gordon Greinge, Greg Chapell and Ray Dias Sidath to come to the cricket world? I don’t think so!
What they think is to finish the game as soon as they can and earn a lot of money instantly. The value of the great test cricket is deteriorating the ipl 2020 schedule and time which will be delayed because of some concerns regarding the sponsor and television partners but it will be resumed shortly and the cricket lovers can watch their favorite players playing on field again soon. Cricket is selling very fast all over the world like instant hot dogs. To conclude this I think this playing T20 cricket for money is like the gladiators who fight each other to entertain the spectators. Those spectators spend their hard-earned money to get thrilled by watching these brutal fights. The organizers of the fights become rich. Can you say that this not the thing happening in T20 version of cricket? Cricketers destroy and kill their techniques and the spirit of the game to entertain the spectators. And the spectators spend their money lavishly to enjoy these matches and the organizers of these matches are reaping the harvest. They become more richer that the others. So what will be the future of cricket?