TWENTY-TWENTY–BANG-BANG!
-by Ven Parthsarthy Wednesday, October 03, 2007
To an ophthalmologist, twenty-twenty means only one thing— a perfect vision. In today’s Cricketing terms 20-20 stands for the ‘Wham-Bam-Thank-You-Ma’am’ syndrome.
What is cricket coming to? The Bradmans and Hammonds, the Huttons, Hazares and Vijay Merchants ,the Vinoo Mankads. C.K. Nayudus—what has happened to their legacy? Where is Ranjitsinghji who turned a bat into a wand? They must all be turning violently in their graves. What has happened to the ‘Googlies’ and ‘Chinaman’ ? The Vishwanaths, the Prasannas, Gavaskars and Bedis and Venkataraghavans of recent memory, must be wincing at the slide of events, transforming a ‘Gentleman’s game’ into a fireworks tamasha.
A silken leg-glance of Vishwanath and an elegant late-cut of C.K. Nayudu –they were sights for the Gods, worth sitting in the uncovered stands under a hot sun for five full days even if the matches ended in a draw .Neville Cardus, the doyen of Cricket writers and J.H.Fingleton (Brightly Fades the Don) went lyrical about Cricket and the Cricketers of those days; Keith Miller, striding gracefully like a Derby horse, with his hair flying in the wind, was a ‘poem in motion’. Who can forget \the sharp comments over the Radio of A.F.S. Talayarkhan who laced his commentaries with interesting tidbits about Cricketers? Or, the wind-bag , Vizzy who had his own inimitable style? One cannot but feel sorry that a delectable game of ‘glorious uncertainties’ has come to this pathetic state.. The slam-bang players who use their bats as sledge-hammers are being deified and gifts and purses showered on them. In the olden days, cricketers played for the love of the game and were paid a pittance.; Today, seeing the ‘guts and glory’ nature of Cricket and the way players are being lionized. Lucre is the only incentive. Said in Tamil: “Kasae dhaan kadavuLadA”
It is not as though every thing was fine with five-day Tests.They were slow-motion matches all right. Some players did play for records and individual glory than for the team. Drawn matches were the order of the day in many tests. But then these could have been remedied.The expression ‘It’s not Cricket’ has found its way into the English language to suggest ‘fair play’. Witness:: Vishwanath calling back a rival batsman wrongly declared ‘out’ or a Pataudi ’walking’ even before being declared ‘out’ for a snicked catch by the umpire They were all defining moments, proud moments. These players wrote the grammar of sportsmanship in Cricket.
Then something happened.Kerry Packer, an Australian entrepreneur started the one-day version of the game. What we now have is the further abridged ‘Twenty-20’ version. What is wrong with that, one may ask. Let us see. India’s tied match with Pakistan was decided on the basis of the ’bowl out’ which is an illegitimate cousin of the ‘penalty shoot-out’ in football. These are perhaps the spin-offs of the ‘Fast-food’ Quick-money’ ’2-minute Noodles’ ‘Dhideer Sambhar’ mentality of the ’jaldi, jaldi’ digital era.
What would I not give to see again Vishwanath’s delectable leg-glide and the great C.K’s late cut ? An arm and a limb? This seismic shift from the traditional format of elegant cricket which was marked by graciousness and goodwill, has now been replaced by aggressive body language, taunts and sledging. This is perhaps what the youth of today want. A change in name to the new Twenty-20 format may be worth the Cricket Board’s consideration: Why not change the name of THIS spectacle to QUICKET, which is apt and goes well with lustyhitting and soaring sixers. Let us leave the aficionados of regular five-day Cricket to savour ,be it only in their fantasies, the elegant leg-glances and sweet late-cuts and silken drives and the flowing shots of forgotten yesterday.