Thursday, April 30, 2009

Strategy Time-out: ODI-izing T20?

The reason I got bored of one day internationals was how they meandered in the 20-40 over duration. Nothing of note happened, and even if I was watching the match, I would mentally switch off.

The strategy time-out concept has done something similar to T20. There is always some sort of twist after the 10th over and the 7.5 minute long time-out. So unless the openers are going hammer and tongs at the opposition (which happens in maybe 10 percent of the innings), the first ten overs of T20 have been rendered rather insipid. Batsmen and bowlers both play with an eye on the long time-out, so the 6-10th over period in particular is very uneventful.

If they don't get rid of this disastrous "innovation" soon, Twenty20 cricket will have to make way for Ten10 cricket.