T20 matches in cricket are pure gambles. One good over, even the last ball of the last over of a match can turn the fate of the match upside down. These need two or three impacts players in a team to seal the fate of the match tilting the balance in favor of the team.
Consequently the real gamblers profiteer from T20 cricket matches concealing the betting in many different ways. The cricket worldwide T20 franchises matches have created great opportunities for average and great cricket players earning easy money with less effort. Match officials are also benefitting. But organizers are making windfall profit. Cricket by the way losing its beauty and beasts in cricket is prevailing.
It is so easy manipulating the matches that the sincere efforts (?) of ICC often is not enough in probing into incidents of match fixing and betting. Bowlers are losing the urge of developing skills of adjusting to different wickets and conditions. Batsmen no longer bother to develop patience and care for batting according to the merit of the deliveries.
Mad rush is taking over cool, calculative organized approaches. Influence of T20 avalanching ODI matches .It is even impacting upon serenity of test cricket. As an ardent follower of test cricket it often hurts me. It is true that excitements and thrills of T20 matches often attract me. But I feel the difference of test cricket and T20 is the difference of the beauty and the beast.
In recent times some T20 matches created tensions and excitements and possibly left behind few unanswered questions as well. Host Sri Lanka lost a match Bangladesh through the heroics of Mahmudullah even after scoring over 200 runs. That winning team lost to India in the final ball of the final over when Karthik struck a massive six.
Yesterday another match in PSL ended in the last ball thrill separated the teams by 1 run. Such matches ends in excitement and leaves behind serious doubts and confusions leaving people guessing.
I am of the opinion of changing the structure of test cricket. These can me made of four days restricting first overs of each time to 90 overs and making these of four days. The sporting wickets should be prepared under ICC guidance with neutral curators. Batting and bowling bonus systems may also be introduced. I do not think admission of Afghanistan and Ireland at this stage would improve the quality of test cricket as these countries do not have required infrastructure, depth and quality for playing quality test cricket on sustainable basis.
Rather more supports should have been given to test playing countries like West Indies, Zimbabwe and Bangladesh for furthering improving their cricket. Afghanistan and Ireland should have been kept playing ODI for few more years.
I do not think in the present way of playing cricket test cricket would survive long as crowd interests is waning day by day. India, Australia and England are absolutely dominating the game. The rapid spread of disco style T20 cricket is killing the art and beauty of test cricket.
BDST: 0847 HRS, MAR 22, 2018
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