T20 perfect dose for cricket enthusiasts

Hafiz Marikar

All roads will lead to the Pallekelle International Stadium today, for the games between England and New Zealand at 3.30 pm and the Sri Lanka - West Indies match which starts at 7.30 pm. which will be played in a carnival atmosphere, over here in Kandy.

Then on October 1, the last game in Pallekele will be the fist game between West Indies and New Zealand at 3.30 p.m. followed by the Sri Lanka- England game at 7.30

The shortened version of cricket, Twenty20 or T20 is the perfect dose for all cricket enthusiasts. The game has now come a long way from the days when only test matches were being played. Then in 1971 the first One-day international was played between Australia and England at the MCG. This was the beginning of the shortened version of the game. The game became popular amongst the masses.

The England and Wales cricket board decided on an innovation. The board started coining the idea of shortening the length of the game even further-to 20 overs-a-side. The idea was to go with the modern times and give the game some boost. This gave birth to twenty20 or simply put T20 cricket.

The first official T20 game was played on June 13, 2003 between English counties. The first T20 season in England was a success. The final was played between Surrey Lions and Warwickshire Bears. Surrey won by 9 wickets to lift the cup. Lord's hosted the first T20 game on July 15, 2004.

The game was between Surrey and Middlesex. It attracted a crowd of over 26,000. The fever spread across the world. Other test playing nations started embracing this new version of the game.

Australia beat New Zealand in the first ever international T20 match on February 17th 2005. This was played at Eden Park, Auckland. India made a late foray into T20. India played its first match against South Africa in Johannesburg on December 1st 2006. India won that match by 6 wickets. Different cricketing nations started their own version of T20. India started Indian Cricket league (ICL) and Indian Premier League (IPL) in 2008. IPL has received bigger response from the masses. The first version of IPL was played in April 2008 in India. There was a good mix of Indian and foreign players in every team. Eight teams participated and Team Rajasthan beat Chennai in finals played at the Patil Stadium, Navi Mumbai. The 2009 IPL was hosted by South Africa. It received an unprecedented response from the South African fans. In that tourney Hyderabad beat Bangalore in the finals at The Wanderers, Johannesburg.

T20 World Cup 2007 - after ODI World Cup, was the time for the T20 World Cup! The inaugural T20 World Cup was played in South Africa in September 2007. Mahendra Singh Dhoni led the Indian team to victory against Pakistan in the finals.

In which twelve teams took part in that tournament including 10 test playing nations and also Kenya and Scotland. Gautam Gambhir played a match-winning innings of 75 runs in the final. This gave a huge boost to Indian T20 cricket. T20 World Cup 2009 - World Cup T20 2009 was played in England from June 5, 2009 to June 21, 2009. Twelve teams were vying for the coveted trophy.

The Twenty20 form of cricket that year came in for some criticism with some experts citing that the game hampers a cricketer's technique.

Youngsters think otherwise.

T20 is the future version of cricket. It has become an in-thing amongst today's generation.

The period lasting 1998 to 2001 can be traced back as the time of origin of Twenty20 cricket. However, it was in the year 2001 that the idea of a shortened form of cricket, earlier discussed by England and Wales Cricket Board, began to take a shape. The concept of 40-over game, with 20 over's per innings, was presented to the county chairman in the same year and later, passed with a voting of 11-7, 11 in favor and 7 against. Soon, the new form of cricket was given the name of Twenty20, more popularly T20. T20 Cricket was formally introduced to the world in 2003, when ECB launched the Twenty20 Cup, along with slogan "I don't like cricket, I love it". The same year, the first Twenty20 cricket tournament was organized in England, with various county cricket teams. The tournament proved to be a success, with thousands of spectators filling the England's cricket stadiums, a first in many decades. Soon, other cricket playing nations of the world also started to take notice of Twenty20 cricket. Soon after the first Twenty20 cricket tournament was played and became overnight success, South Africa, Australia and the West Indies also organized similar tournaments, which again attracted huge cricket audience.

In the year 2005, history was created, when Twenty20 cricket made its international debut, with the first T20 International being played, between Australia and New Zealand, at Eden Park. As the popularity of the new form of cricket started rising, surpassing that of even ODIs and Tests, the game was taken more seriously. The inaugural event, the 2007 ICC World Twenty20, was staged in South Africa from 11-24 September 2007. Which was won by India, who became the first World T20 Champions after defeating Pakistan by 5 runs in the final at Johannesburg. The second event, the 2009 ICC World Twenty20 took place in England from 5-21 June 2009. This tournament was won by the previous runners-up Pakistan who defeated Sri Lanka by 8 wickets in the final at Lord's, London. The third tournament, the 2010 ICC World Twenty20 was held from 30 April-16 May 2010 and hosted by the West Indies. The winners were England who defeated Australia by 7 wickets in the final at Kensington Oval, Barbados. This was the first ever ICC tournament won by England. The fourth tournament, the 2012 ICC World Twenty20, is currently being held in Sri Lanka, with the final scheduled for 7 October 2012. The question in our minds is, who will be the champions this time?