| Cricket used to be a 'gentleman's' game in the | | | | India-Pakistan series. On the whole, the future of |
| eighteenth century. It was something which was | | | | cricket was to be uncertain and undecided, only to |
| looked upon as a game to show-off a man's | | | | be governed by the choices of the public and for |
| prowess. How much has the game changed since | | | | profit. |
| then? | | | | Now in the 21st century, we see the emergence of |
| Well, to find out we only have to look 40 years back | | | | the 20twenty format which reduced the limited |
| in our scrapbook of this sport to find out what went | | | | overs from 50 to 20 overs. At the beginning this was |
| wrong. The introduction of one-day format was a | | | | not taken seriously with countries refusing to take |
| revelation for any keen cricketer at the time. 50 | | | | the new trend. However, due to crowd popularity |
| overs per innings meant that the spectators would | | | | and the recent failure of the 2007 World Cup in the |
| not be bored by the 5-day haul of the test arena. At | | | | West Indies, the 20/20 game had been increased |
| the time, it was not 50 overs but 60, but the effect | | | | from one-off matches to a World cup. Which being |
| was still the same. Teams which graced this game | | | | an Indian, I am proud to say we won. |
| included the legendary West Indies team of the | | | | Such is the extent of the 20/20, that it is treated like |
| 1970's which had won the first one-day internation | | | | sugar-loaded chocolate, take one at a time for best |
| World Cup. How time has changed since then, in the | | | | results. |
| last 10 years this affluent team has come from hero | | | | But what can one do but sit and watch the game |
| to zero losing games at a consistant rate. | | | | evolve from its humble beginnings to something |
| Other teams included India and Australia who also | | | | which is slowly becoming a lucrative business. |
| attracted spectators in their thousands. | | | | In my opinion we need to change the mindset from |
| The One-day format increased popualrity in the | | | | profit to the game itself. Yes, we can have the |
| game, but at a cost. To fit in a number of one day | | | | one-dayers and yes we can have the 20/20's, but |
| matches meant that the test match schedule would | | | | the ICC must make sure that the very essence of |
| have to be shortened. This led to a decline in interest | | | | cricket is not damaged, they must make sure that |
| in test cricket until matches such as the Ashes or an | | | | orginality must be restored. |