Cup is fine but where is the cricket ?

Just when I thought of writing that I don’t like twenty 20 and so wont care even if India didn’t win it , India won . I am not one of the Indian fans who gets euphoric about this victory and draws solace for all the losses they have had for 24 years but nevertheless it is our team and I cherish it as any true cricket fan would.
To put it very bluntly I don’t like this format at all, it is less of cricket and more of something else. Call me old school or whatever this hitting is what I wont call cricket. Cricket is not throwing a ball into the field and running around to put it into a net like other sports. Cricket is a complex sport with zillion rules and one needs more than the ability to throw or hit a ball to be successful in it. Cricket was never meant just for hitting 6s and 4s . You realize this when you yourself have played a lot of cricket as a kid . At first all you like is batting, you wait for the chance to bat and when you get one ,all you do is try to hit the ball as hard as possible(I am speaking about the normal kids who have no formal training in cricket but have played it no less than any other) .But when you grow up you realize it is not all about hitting hard , there is more to bowling than you thought there was and you need to apply your head a bit than hit the ball . That’s also when you realize why the Indian batsmen are not trying to hit a six of every ball and stop telling your friend they don’t know cricket . In a cricket game there are many strategies to be framed right from setting the batting order according to the score , which bowler to choose for that particular over , how to set the field (like putting the fat guy as a close fielder so that he need not run much :)) , how to pace the run chase , take a single of the last ball to retain a strike ,just play defence in a particular bowler’s over , bowl a bouncer followed by a yorker to confuse the batsman and many more , all this in a 10 over per side match we used to play . I grew up in the age of the one-day matches and I know there were lots of criticism for the one-day format itself . The short form meant the test cricketers have to change the way they had played all these years .They thought it is too short to realize the full essence of a game of cricket . For them a test match is what real cricket is all about , a long drawn battle ,a game of strategies , a game where the real talent of any player comes out gradually . In ODIs they didn’t have time for anything .They had to start making runs right from the first ball .None of them would have thought 30 years later cricket will be played with just 20 overs per side and there would be a world cup for it. Test cricket never had one.
Twenty 20 is an insult to bowlers because it shows them no respect . However well you bowl all what the batsmen are going to do is try to hit a six out of it . They don’t have the fear of losing wickets because it is just 20 overs and any player be it a bowler or a batsman knows at least how to hit the ball . Bowlers are reduced to no more than bowling machines . Cricket is equally about bowling as it is about bowling and this is why 20-20 is not cricket . Batsmen are no better either .All they want now are muscles and not techniques or strategies . Infact even a captain has a very minimal role to play . It is just a lengthier version of the last five overs of an ODI. All it is going to do is change the ODI into a hitting game as well .With scores of over 300 becoming an average these days it is all going to be 400 soon . There will more 6 sixer overs and no more you will be talking about it as something great as we did about gary sober’s and ravi shastri’s(even though this was in domestic match) record for many years . And keeping in mind the emotion that Indians put in for watching a match, it is all set to be even worse for the pressure levels for Indians .The casualy rate is definitely set to rise.
Twenty 20 is best suited for gully cricketers and not professionals . These formats brought into to glamorize the sport is taking the fun away from it. Though I don’t accept of cheer leaders dancing for every boundary and wicket in what is called the gentleman’s game , i have no problems with these half clad dancers . There are many ways to improve a sport and make it interesting than shortening it and bringing in dancers . If I want a three hour entertainment I would rather watch football or hockey . These are meant for that. Not cricket.

why complicate things ?