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Picture Yuvraj - one of the stars at the World Twenty20.

TWENTY20 ENJOYS INDIAN SUMMER

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By Dave Tickner

With the cracking World Twenty20 getting the cracking final it deserved on Monday afternoon, it's hard to resist comparisons with the World Cup in the Caribbean earlier this year.

The big World Cup was too long, too predictable, badly organised and ended in farce.

The rugby World Cup is currently making all the same mistakes and boring people to tears across France. Surely even the French would have had more fun tuning in to the fun and games in South Africa this past fortnight? They would have enjoyed the dancing girls if nothing else.

The ICC stopped short of calling this a World Cup, presumably out of fear of burdening a failure of a tournament with that tag. That wouldn't do.

But it was a World Cup in all but name, and just so much better than the 50-over version as to be almost embarrassing. Everything good about the Twenty20 was missing in the West Indies; exciting games, surprise finalists, new stars emerging, raucous atmosphere and, perhaps most importantly for Twenty20's long-term development, a successful India side.

That is crucial.

For while everyone with blood in their veins has enjoyed themselves immensely over the last fortnight, the ICC have different concerns.

Will they back an event because people and players enjoy it and the cricket is superb? Yes, as long as it also makes them a huge wad of cash.

And with India giving Twenty20 cricket a lukewarm reception, the ICC followed suit. The money from Indian TV and sponsorship deals dwarfs those from everywhere else. While the Indian sponsors wanted 50-over cricket day and night, that's what the ICC gave them.

With India now the first Twenty20 world champions, the game will surely take off there as it has in England, Pakistan and South Africa.

Twenty20 cricket is the future, and this tournament proved it. As long as the ICC don't screw it up by trying to double the number of games in the next renewal (don't rule it out) its success looks assured. The format almost guarantees exciting cricket and close finishes.

Eleven of 26 completed matches were still in doubt heading into the final over, with three more settled seven balls from the close. There were five 200-plus scores, yet Australia still managed to roll Sri Lanka for barely 100. Unpredictability is one of the joys of Twenty20, but a couple of other important things have become clear in this tournament.

And unlike the World Cup, dominated by old stagers like Matty Hayden, Muttiah Muralitharan and Glenn McGrath, this tournament has created new cricketing stars.

How many people outside Pakistan knew much of Misbah-ul-Haq before this tournament? Or Sohail Tanvir? or Albie Morkel outside South Africa? Even Darren Maddy had his moments.

Those who dismissed the event as a 'lottery' have been proved comprehensively wrong. Yes, the shorter the game the greater the chance of an upset.

But show me a game in this tournament where the side playing the better cricket lost. You won't find one.

Show me the teams more worthy of a spot in the final than India or Pakistan. You won't find them.

Twenty20 is a joy because the unexpected happens. But, despite the fears of former players like Javed Miandad, it undoubtedly is proper cricket.

Brainless slogging has been in the minority, with clean hitting and proper cricket shots the best route to success. How many of Yuvraj Singh's six consecutive sixes off Stuart Broad were slogs?

But, perhaps more importantly than the batting fireworks was the role of the bowlers.

Far from being reduced to mere bowling machines, serving up more deliveries to be carted to the boundary by heavy bats, the best bowlers adapted their games and fought back. Five bowlers ended the tournament with economy rates better than a run a ball; a further 11 went at under seven an over.

And it's no coincidence that those 16 bowlers included the tournament's six leading wicket-takers. Good bowling got good reward.

Miandad fears Twenty20 cricket will damage the future of Test and 50-over international cricket. He's half right.

One-day internationals never replaced the unique ebb and flow of five-day Test cricket, and it seems even less likely that Twenty20 could do that.

Nor would we want it to. Test cricket remains the ultimate examination of cricketing excellence.

Whether 50-over cricket retains its place as the premier shortened version is far less certain.

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