Bye, bye Fifty50, Hello Twenty20

The Twenty20 World Cup designed and conducted by the International Cricket Council was no doubt a success and would have gone to warm the cockles of the sheiks in Dubai.

But what the ICC big wigs do not understand is that they are living in a fools paradise.

We would like in the words of that perennial by Trini Lopez 'Bye, Bye love' for the ICC to change the title and sing 'Bye, bye fifty50, Hello Twenty20.

From what was noticeable and has been reiterated in these columns, the ICC is hell bent on filling their coffers, with not a care for the rest of the cricket played.

When there is Test cricket and 50 over cricket, it makes little or no sense in the introduction of the Twenty20. By their greed for the mega bucks, it won't be long when the 50 over game would begin to lose its appeal and Test cricket is completely wiped off the slate of the ICC.

The success of the Twenty20 has also foxed the ICC. They will now have to decide whether they are going to shoot ahead with this shorter version of the game and how they are going to sandwich this between the 50 over and the established version of the game.

Now the fans who pay good money, will obviously crave for the Twenty20. That is because that game is going cheap, they are allowed to bring in all the paraphernalia, including the flags and they will not have to spend 7 to 8 hours watching the 50 overs cricket.

It won't come as a surprise if the ICC think of another version of the game, that will further overflow their coffers. The kids watching this mockery unfold on TV are sure going to take to it and before long most countries would be having sloggers and not cricketers in the true sense of the word.

The ICC are now bent on globalising this game. When that happens it will be a sad day for the game and for all that it stands for.

The Twenty20 is a slur perpetrated on the time honoured game.

Instead of attempting to make Test cricket and the already available 50 over more attractive to the spectators, the ICC moves into where fools live in and finally they will end up in no man's cricket world.

Indians champs

The Indians who were initially dead against this form of game, finally would have fallen for the bait and now that their side emerged champions must be wallowing in the success that Mahendra Singh Dhoni and his troops made possible.

Singh has gone on record saying that now that they have won the first ever Twenty20 World Cup that the game will fast catch up in his country.

Not only India, but all Test playing countries, if they have Test cricket at heart will be well advised to make a deep study and go slow on it and not forget that Test cricket is what the game is all about.

It is said that winners are heroes and losers outcasts. Dhoni's dashers have been given a welcome fit for Royality, with million of fans lining the streets to welcome home their heroes.

It was not long ago when the Indians capitulated from the World Cup in the Caribbean in the first round and some of the players had their effigies burnt and their houses torched.

They win this mockery of a game the welcome they received was tumultuous. Just shows how fickle humans could get. Dhoni is even allowed to build a swimming pool in his bungalow. Earlier, the residents in the area were objecting to it.

That way, the Sri Lankan cricketers must be thankful that they have cricket fans to whom winning or losing does not mean to go bonkers and go on the rampage like the Indian and Pakistani fans are won't to.

Lankans flatter and falter

As for the Lankan cricketers, they flattered and faltered. They started off like a house on fire mincemeating the Bangladeshis to run up a dream score of 260 which is the highest in this style of game and made further progress and when Sanath Jayasuriya hit a bad patch, they began to get on the skids and when up against Kangaroos they chocked.

On a wicket that was on the slow side, they were experienced enough to adapt, but inexplicably failed to do that and the Aussies just romped home to victory.

This time round there were no cries from fans here that Adam Gilchrist used a squash ball. He may have used it. But that he did not expose it was what mattered.

Afridi man-of-the-series

When the Pakistanis were chasing the Indian score for victory, they needed sensible batting in the middle.

And in Sahid Afridi they had the man who mattered.

But what did he do? He blindly lofted the ball that was gleefully accepted by the fielder and with that one silly shot, the Pakistanis went out of the picture. Had he batted with responsibility the Pakistanis would have strolled home.

Maybe that the adjudicators would have jotted down Afridi as the player of the series, before this final. But they would not have been faulted if they had changed their minds

and given it to some other player, penalising Afridi for this utterly irresponsible stroke.

Captain Sohaib Malik and Coach Geoff Lawson would have told him what they thought of that stroke.