Your guide to watching 20-20: risk re-defined, old is buried

That changes definitions of risk as we know them and in doing so, this game will create its own grammar. And I just have a feeling that most early theories will get buried.

We are all talking about this being a batsman’s game. But don’t forget that the batsmen are expected to go hell for leather, to hit the ball a bus-stop away. The pressure is on them to deliver and so, there is always an opportunity for a calm bowler and a calm captain.

Indeed, my view is that in this seemingly, frenetic 200-miles-an hour sport, the calmest mind will prevail. Just as it probably is in Formula One. The moment a batsman blocks, or is forced to block two balls, the pressure on him mounts. In a batsman’s game, the pressure is on the batsman just as in a Shah Rukh movie, the pressure is on Shah Rukh.

This is where having ten wickets will come in handy. The price on a wicket diminishes in direct proportion to the number of overs. The greater the number of overs the higher the value of the wicket; correspondingly the fewer the number of overs the greater risk you can take and so batsmen can play the desperate shot quite early. That is the opportunity for the bowler but I also suspect something else is going to happen.

As batsmen take chances, they will discover that some of them aren’t as risky as earlier perceived. In Test cricket, for example, hitting in the air was frowned upon earlier for fear that you might get caught. In recent years, batsmen have discovered that hitting through the line and over the top isn’t as dangerous as was thought. That was due to 50-over cricket.

Now, I believe 20-20 will induce a similar change in perception and make 50-over cricket faster. Just to give you an example, batsmen tend to check their shot if they find they have been deceived by a slower ball. Here, they might discover that if they keep going, there might be a decent percentage of safety.

And the definition of a good bowler will change. When Joel Garner was bowling in limited overs cricket, three and a half an over was routine. Now we believe that anything under five an over on most days is good bowling. Here, bowlers will say that under 30 runs in four overs is very good. In fact they might well assess themselves on a ball by ball basis and regard a ball not scored off as a little victory in itself.

Make no mistake this is a game for the six hitter. And for the inventive batsman. If ten an over becomes a good score and eight an over the minimum, the well- placed and briskly-run two will diminish in value. The single won’t be as critical either; a bit like punctuation really, you need it but not always!!

Remember there are no middle overs in this game. It is not a slog fest, the good cricket shot will still have value, but the urgency never ceases because, again, you have 10 wickets to lose over 20 overs.

So how do we enjoy 20-20 cricket? By not equating it to anything we already know. We enjoy a pani-puri without lamenting the absence of a slow-cooked Hyderabadi biryani. Just as there is room on the palate and in the stomach for both, so too with 20-20 and 50-over and Test cricket.

Those who say “this is not cricket” and splutter over their coffee can pull out their manual typewriter, search for photographic film and call in the pigeons to send messages. Just enjoy it for what it is. Sometimes it is good to put the jacket and tie aside and slip on a round-neck tee.