Twenty20 The Implosion behind Expansion Explosion

- Sreelata S. Yellamrazu

From something that was developed in England in the early 2000’s as an after-work pastime that has exponentially and unexpectedly evolved into an enticing business venture and a lucrative enticement for players, Twenty20 is no longer considered a frivolous sport. Instead if anything, Twenty20 has been transformed from being something of a necessary evil to an integral addition to the evolution of cricket as a sport. As with everything though, the downfalls to any such gargantuan unplanned expansion are always round the corner.

Some would say that with the International Cricket Council (ICC) having turned a blind eye in the early stages when Twenty20 was developed from an evening pastime into a commercial venture too big for anyone’s boots through the Indian Premier League, it has endangered the very status of Test cricket as the epitome of the sport. However, while the too-good-to-betrue bubble about the large sums of money pumped into the early initiation in the IPL burst three years down the line, calling for serious corrective measures that are still in the process of implementation, the IPL has held steady ground as the most prominent vehicle for Twenty20, after the ICC World Twenty20 tournament.