ODI Vs T20: The debate rages on

Vineet Sharma

Little drops of water wear down big stones- Russian Proverb We all gasped with astonishment upon the advent of T20 cricket that saw the light of the day in the 2007 T20 World Cup. A historical event nonetheless, as a young Indian squad came from nowhere to beat the best in the business. The new format had it all, the glitz, the glamour, the energy and it saved time too. The Indian Premier League took it a step further and cricket pundits were fanatically writing obituaries for the ‘old’ ODI format. Retirements have been triggered so that the players can ‘preserve’ themselves for the gruelling new form of the sport (one can but only feel for Jacob Oram, whose willow will never see the glory of Test cricket again). I’m certain that there have been a million debates among friends on the appeal of one over the other, but one thing is for certain, ODI cricket is far from its end and the recent rise in viewer-base (Champions Trophy had more people hooked on than the Champions League T20), shows that people would still give their approval to well planned and executed game plan than an adrenaline pumping 3-4 hours that can see even the most nonsensical shots change the course of the game at a constant rate. There have been talks of revamping the 50-over format to give it an edge over its shorter counterpart (a colleague of mine even dared to disagree with Sachin Tendulkar’s views on this, facing the wrath of thousands of Sachin lovers on Zeecric!). What we miss out on is the fact that everything will fall in place if we have one thing, patience. Agreed that no-one has time to sit for days and watch a match that seems to be certainly headed for a draw, but saying such a thing also means that we are grossly underestimating the concept of quality, craftsmanship, art and grace (Test cricket amalgamates all this and more).If the recent audience results are a hint of things to come, we can safely say that ODI or even Test cricket is really not threatened by the coming of the Twenty-20 version. In due course of time, people will come to see the good side of the older formats that have stood the test of time. If the argument that T20 will take-over all forms of cricket owing to its raw appeal and glamour is accepted, aren’t we being as stupid as saying that masterpieces like Mona Lisa, The Last Supper and Dora Maar au Chat would lose their relevance when pitted against computerised sketch machines that can give similar pictures in a matter of seconds. Surely, we must refrain from such crass comparisons because they show our lack of understanding the nuances of a genre more than anything else!As an avid cricket crazy bloke, all I pray for is a scene where all forms of cricket are given their due importance and not be overshadowed with the marketing gimmicks of one version over the other. It is unfortunate to see the trend of players retiring from Tests to play the shorter formats as it is an established fact that the shorter versions do take a heavier toll (otherwise Sachin would have definitely played for India’s T20 team). It is about time players keep the completely monetary thoughts out of their heads and play the game for what they really got hooked on to it (Love?).