Former India opener and captain Sunil Gavaskar has said that financial security provided by T20 leagues is allowing batsmen to hit hard nowadays which was not common during the times he played.
Sunil Gavaskar on T20 Leagues
Gavaskar was asked if better protective equipment were encouraging batsmen to play more aggressively than before.
“It is not just the protective gear. I think it is the cushion that they have in terms of the T20 leagues that they can be part of. When we played, whatever income we got, 500 rupees or when I finished playing cricket, it was 5,000 rupees for a Test match, that was extra income for us,” said Gavaskar at a public conversation with Ashis Ray organised by The Indus Entrepreneurs (TIE) London.
“If we didn’t do well, we were dropped from the Test team. We had to go back to our jobs — with Tatas, Railways, Air India, Steel Authority of India — 9 to 5 job. Today that worry or fear is not there. You have the IPL, the Big Bash, there is also the Hundred. Though Big Bash and Hundred don’t pay as much, there is that cushion. So there is not worry. The batsman thinks, “I’ll go bang-bang. So what if I score quick runs, I get out. Never mind”. That cushion. It is a mental thing. Why would you go bang, bang unless you know you have got something waiting for you. That is the way I look at it,” added Gavaskar.
T20 is a shortened game format of cricket. At the professional level, it was introduced by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) in 2003 for the inter-county competition. The first match was played in 2003 between Hampshire and Sussex.
In a T20 game, the two teams have a single innings each, which is restricted to a maximum of 20 overs. Together with first-class and List A cricket, Twenty20 is one of the three current forms of cricket recognised by the International Cricket Council (ICC) as being at the highest international or domestic level.
Also read: Sunil Gavaskar Records List, Achievements and Honours Received
