Cricket, not Twenty20, should be the Focus of the Olympics2020

There is little doubt that Twenty20 is the way to connect with the masses. But if Olympics were to be rated on an ‘entertainment’ factor, then apart from the opening ceremony (even the closing ceremony pales before it often enough), there is little glamourous about it. Many commented that the second day’s play of the third Test between Sri Lanka and India at the P. Sarvanamuttu Stadium ‘boring’. But those in the know-how of the game and its appreciation called it ‘an absorbing day’s affair’.

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Is the line between sport and entertainment blurring? Is so, must cricket now contrive results in order to suit the palate of the spectators?

People have lapped Twenty20 cricket because perhaps in their opinion, there is little intellect involved (an opinion that can be fairly refuted). But it is like saying a particular formula works in Bollywood with mindless ‘item’ songs for ‘B’ grade actresses and therefore, the audience will mindlessly satiate themselves with it in the garb of an actual cinema. A story cannot work without plot and even the most frivolous of audience will soon tire of the fare dished out.

Twenty20 is, at best, a reality show that provides the kick because few things can be planned to perfection. It was also the reason why players were initially weary of committing to be a part of a version of the game that could undo their hard earned reputation and send the acquired numbers for a toss. It would be fair to say that the two reasons many of the players then chose to have a change of heart was because for one, it paid well to be part of the Russian Roulette and secondly, because many who were previously branded as ‘too old’ or ‘too inflexible’ for the game’s evolution saw an opportunity to be accepted with respect with the ultimate intent to prolong their till-then fast fading careers.

While it is all fine in the realm of cricket dominant nations that have a fair bit of the serious sport via Tests and also, to a large element in the one day internationals, there is a danger of the sport not being taken too seriously when Twenty20 is introduced as the end-all and be-all of cricket. Twenty20 has evolved from a slam-bang affair to a more concentric version of the sport that still values traditional cricket skills, especially when it comes to the aspect of bowling.

Twenty20, the entertainment wing of cricket, is still, at the end of the day, a sport. Why else are players pitching for it in an event like the Olympics? But by those standards that demand the highest of the game, Twenty20 may fill up numbers in terms of nations (a fact that has often gone against it), but it does not qualify to be the highest level of the sport. Football is not playing only till half time to make the qualifications of appealing to a larger audience. If football is a sport with ninety minutes of fair play, cricket is a sport whose true test can only come in the art of playing it over five days, popularity notwithstanding.

Twenty20 has not completely turned around the purists. There are those that scorn at it; others are willing to see it for what it is – a desperate attempt to please all. It has worked; but the pop corn and cola become necessary only when the action on view is not satiating enough. Twenty20 is still an experimentation. Would Australia accept if a team like Hong Kong were to win an Olympic gold at cricket? They could not digest the fact that India had swooped into a maiden World Cup victory and needed to reiterate the fact they were the ‘real’ world champions as almost as if to reinforce the pillars that held Australian dominance.

Twenty20 may still be the meal ticket at the Olympics come 2020. Twenty20’s entry into the Olympics will be a compromise on the skills that make outstanding players in a Test scenario. Twenty20 in the Olympics will also give more attention to those that make up the line ups in a Twenty20 match but fail to get anywhere close to standing the real test, the Tests. Does this then became equivalent to a scenario of the degeneration of values that society at large seems to have resigned itself to with a changing world?