Here comes the 20/20 season…

By CAM

Apart from a few odd series here and there, the twenty20 season is upon us. Again! It seems like it was just yesterday when the second Indian Premier League season took place in South Africa and Pakistan won the T20 in England. Now, in less than a year, a third season of the IPL set to kick off on March 12^th with the ICC World Twenty20 following right behind it in the Caribbean.

It is a dawn of an era in cricket that is fast, exciting, and more than anything, financially rewarding for the players and others involved. And for the spectators and fans, it is entertaining to say the very least. A convergence of sport and entertainment that cricket is just beginning to realize. Bang-bang, 10 plus runs per over, music, cheer girls, 3 hours, and we have a result. An evening outing with the family after a long day at work – much like a trip to watch a basketball game on a Tuesday night. And the best of all is that you don’t even need to ask the boss for time off to go watch the game. What could be more ideal?

Who can forget the days when all you had to do was stand up to cheer a boundary by GR Vishvanath only to turn around to find that you just lot your seat to another desperate spectator. That was then, a stark difference to what you have now – a country with millions of cricket fans, but empty seats in a cricket stadium! Go figure!! One may have expected television to replace the urge to go to watch the game live at the stadium. But certainly not boredom as is quite evident. Fans are just simply bored with the classic 5-day test match.

Besides, who has time these days? Everyone is busy. From the kid going to elementary school to the corporate executive, they are all just plain busy. We live in a microwave society where 2 minutes to warm up dinner to too long. What can be more ideal a form of cricket than the IPL in today’s world. A perfect dose of cricket for the masses that love cricket but have a million other things to do!

Let us hope we don’t get so impatient that the 10 minute break between innings in a twenty20 game seems too long.

So bring on the twenty20 season. I, for one, am ready…