{"id":4220,"date":"2025-04-18T21:37:58","date_gmt":"2025-04-18T20:37:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/?p=4220"},"modified":"2025-04-20T09:58:53","modified_gmt":"2025-04-20T08:58:53","slug":"archive-7","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/2025\/04\/18\/archive-7\/","title":{"rendered":"Licence to Thrill Part Three"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

by Satish Sekar \u00a9 Satish Sekar (July 2nd<\/sup> 2009)<\/a>[1]<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Editor\u2019s Note \u2013 April 18th<\/sup> 2025<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Indian Premier League (IPL) is underway. It is main club t20tournament in the world, although England\u2019s new white ball (limited overs) captain, Yorkshire\u2019s Harry Brook[2]<\/a> has prioritised his country\u2019s needs above the riches he could have earned in the IPL. Brook pulled out of the IPL for the second consecutive year after participating in the auction. In 2024 it was due to the death of his grandmother, but this time it was to \u2018recharge his batteries\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Following frustration from teams over late withdrawals, the IPL has initiated two-year bans for withdrawals that are not for medical or family-related reasons. Brook\u2019s withdrawal left his team, the Delhi Capitals in a mess, struggling to replace him. Nevertheless, they sit proudly at top of the standings of the 2025 tournament, having won five of their six matches so far with eight remaining in the group stage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We are publishing these articles from our archive again as we believe T20 has a very important role to play in the development of cricket then and now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Editor<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Striking The Right Balance<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The International Cricket Council (ICC) is currently considering ways to preserve public interest in Test cricket. Among the proposals is one to reduce it from five days to four and play day\/night matches, but if players are asked which format they prefer, the answer is clear that they judge their careers on the longer form.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The public, however, prefer Twenty20. Sri Lankan great Kumar Sangakkara has an interesting idea to capitalise on the popularity of Twenty20 cricket to ensure the future of Test cricket.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think that Twenty20 cricket shouldn\u2019t harm Test cricket,\u201d he said Sangakkara. \u201cTest cricket should be the primary form of the game and should have prime spot and prime importance. There\u2019s been a lot of talk about Test cricket not making enough TV revenue, but I think we can balance our Twenty20 and one-day cricket and inject some of that into maintaining Test cricket.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is an interesting and important opinion that should be listened to[3]<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sangakkara echoes the opinion of most players around the world regarding Test cricket. \u201cIf you ask Test cricketers around the world, I think every single player will admit to the fact that Test cricket is the real test,\u201d he says. \u201cThat\u2019s what you\u2019re recognised for playing. At the end of the day, not many people will go around telling you that they scored 2000 runs in Twenty20 cricket, but they will talk of scoring 10000 runs in Test cricket, so I think that is the final ambition of all cricketers and if you\u2019re a good cricketer, you can play any format of the game, whether that\u2019s any conditions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We as Sri Lankans would love to play ten to twelve Test Matches a year and I\u2019d like to see that day come very soon.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

[1]<\/a> This article was first published in the Magazine in 2009. It was originally not in two parts, but it has been split for the convenience of readers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[2]<\/a> Brook has been appointed England\u2019s new captain for ODIs (one-day internationals) and Twenty20 matches. Brook had been Jos Buttler\u2019s vice-captain. Buttler stepped down after England\u2019s poor showing in the Champions Trophy in February 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[3]<\/a> It has been many years since Sangakkara told me his opinion. Twenty20 cricket is still here; it will stay, but Sangakkara\u2019s wish for it to help fund Test cricket remains unfulfilled. Why?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Satish Sekar \u00a9 Satish Sekar (July 2nd 2009)[1] Editor\u2019s Note \u2013 April 18th 2025 The Indian Premier League (IPL) is underway. It is main club t20tournament in [\u2026]<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1057],"tags":[1005,1007,993,992,1004,1006],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4220"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4220"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4220\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4252,"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4220\/revisions\/4252"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4220"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4220"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4220"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}