India's Baptism into T20 cricket

I had circulated this to my group way back on 1st Dec 2006. Has some relevance left even now after many International games & three versions of IPL.
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Dear (s)

Rain God permitting, today would be another historic day as India gets baptism into the new form of shorter form of cricket at Johannesberg, South Africa.  The weather, which ruined the opening one-day match of the series on November 19, is threatening to derail India's first-ever Pro20 game on Friday evening. the skies reportedly were ominously grey. Nay, this may not reflect the mood of the Indian camp after the defeats – infact, this represents the best chance for India to salvage some pride before turning in the traditional whites.

The new format for the shorter version of the game is threatening to make the 50-overs per side fixture redundant. The tremendously popular British version of the one-day game has already got the cricket administrators interested worldwide though INDIA is late to join the bandwagon. England had to introduce something to attract the dwindling crowds but scarce crowds are never faced in India where the game is played before packed houses with many in without valid tickets also. Infact in one of the One dayers at Pune, many with valid ticket had to return home.
Perhaps for this reason, the Board had treated it with contempt. This was history repeating itself — three decades earlier, they treated one-day cricket with contempt too. India's decision, therefore, to embrace Twenty20 cricket, hold a national tournament for it and even take part in the World Cup in South Africa next year means they are beginning to see the dollar signs. When one-day cricket made its international debut, India was the last country to give it its proper due. Nobody, not the players, not the officials, not the media, took one-day cricket seriously, insisting that Test cricket was the "real thing" and that genuine cricketers played only traditional Test cricket.

Ironically, now that Twenty20 cricket is here, one-day cricket is being termed "traditional". This is the fate of revolutionary innovations — they go from being laughed at to being accepted reluctantly to becoming part of the establishment. If Twenty20 catches on one-day cricket might be squeezed out.

So here is something on what it is all about :
♪ Each game lasts just two-and-a-half hours with both teams facing 20 overs. The emphasis is placed on high-speed cricket, including bowlers jogging back to the start of their run-ups and batsmen waiting in a dug out at the side of the pitch.
♪ Teams have one hour 15 minutes to bowl 20 overs. In the first innings, the calculation of the number of overs to be bowled shall be based on one over for every full 3.75 minutes in the total time available for play up to the scheduled close of play. In the second innings of the match, overs shall be reduced at a rate of one over for every full 3.75 minutes lost, unless the first innings finished early / second innings started early in which case no overs are lost until the time that has been gained is subsequently lost.
♪ Timed Out - The incoming batsman must be in position to take guard or for his partner to be ready to receive the next ball (or for his partner to receive the next ball) within one minute 30 seconds of the fall of the previous wicket.
♪ The Result - Each side must have faced (or had the opportunity to face) five overs in order to constitute a match. The Duckworth Lewis Method shall be used in interrupted matches.
♪ Fielding restrictions apply for the first six overs of each innings.
♪ Each bowler may bowl a maximum of four overs. In a delayed or interrupted match, no bowler may bowl more than one fifth of the total overs allowed unless such a number has been exceeded before the interruption.
♪ Umpires are instructed to apply a strict interpretation of time-wasting by the batsman (five-run penalties). Specifically, batsmen are expected to be ready for the start of a new over as soon as the bowler is ready.
♪ Should a bowler deliver a no ball by overstepping the popping crease, it costs 2 runs and his next delivery is designated a free-hit, from which the batsman can only be dismissed through a run out, as is the case for the original "no ball".
♪ Umpires may award 5-run penalty runs at their discretion if they believe either team is wasting time.
♪ If the fielding team do not complete bowling their 20 overs within 75 minutes, the batting side is credited an extra 6 runs for every whole over bowled after the 75-minute mark.
♪ If the match ends with the scores tied and there must be a winner, the tie is broken with a bowl-out (similar to a penalty shootout in football), with 5 bowlers from each side delivering 2 balls each at an unguarded wicket. If the number of wickets is equal after the first 10 balls per side, the bowling continues and is decided by sudden death.


Only time will tell whether Twenty20 cricket will be an advantage to the great game or not, till then sit back and enjoy


With regards - S Sampathkumar.