Moments that changed cricket forever: The advent of T20 cricket and leagues

In the modern era, the T20 format has truly joined cricket and entertainment, to form ‘cricketainment’

‘The endgame’; ‘An uncalled chaos’; ‘The game’s all new low’; ‘Shorter, simpler, sillier’ – T20 cricket received an introduction to the game as if it was a disowned sibling in a royal family.

To be fair, if one could really fall back to the early 2000s, the advent of this quick-flick format did have its fair share of clinging uncertainty with it – and why not!

Right from the game’s initial introduction, there have been only a select few moments when cricket really yearned for a radical change.

When the change did come last time, it resulted in the birth of a pragmatic torch-bearer for the coming generations in the form of one day internationals.

While the two formats – Tests and ODIs – had found a way to co-exist and succeed for over three decades, T20 sprang up as a competition that was deemed unworthy to keep up the game’s identity which remained mostly undiluted.

Now, when you look back at what the new kid on the block has achieved, in what has been close to a decade signified by T20 delirium, it is almost incredible the way it has kept on reinventing new means of cricketing genius, the same genius that was always up for display, yet was never as valued as the ‘traditional play’ for its stopgap produce on the traditional 22-yard strip.

Gradually, it became clear that though T20 cricket’s impact was not acknowledged widely, the fans’ pull towards the format meant that the format’s future looked bright.

And here we are, reaping from a game that now has a changed definition and a varied approach. However, this decade of revolution has seen its own set of imminent battles that T20 fought and emerged as an outright conqueror.

Let’s map the evident markers in the nurturing of the T20 game that went on to bring a mini-cricketing renaissance in the past few years.

Where it all started

The Twenty20 Cup trophy

It is rather difficult to accept the fact that arguably the most adored cricketing format was only a product of an act of desperation. While the England Cricket Board were always on the lookout for a window to test a shorter one-day format, it was only when the Benson and Hedges Cup was scrapped in 2002 that serious consideration came up for formal discussions.

The English cricketing authorities were looking to pen down a platform to reinvigorate the game’s dwindling popularity and to boost sponsorship revenue model of the game. However, it took Stuart Robinson, the ECB marketing manager, to take the agenda of introducing a proposed 20-over per side format to the execution phase in 2001.

Then all it required was an approval from the authorities that came in the form of 11 votes to 7 in the favour of the all-new T20 format. The carnival began with the Twenty20 Cup in 2003 – and rest as they say is history!