Former India off-spinner R Ashwin believes T20 cricket has evolved to the point where it should be viewed as a separate sport, arguing that the format requires its own benchmarks for evaluating players rather than being judged by the standards of Test or ODI cricket.
Speaking in an exclusive interview on The Scoop by Wisden, Ashwin said T20 cricket was built around entertainment and that expecting an equal contest between bat and ball overlooked the format's purpose.
There has been plenty of criticism over the most recent season of the Indian Premier League, where run-scoring accelerated beyond any other edition - 200 was scored 65 times across the season, with 18 successful 200-plus run chases. 220 was chased nine times, marking a drastic shift in how totals are being viewed since the introduction of the Impact Player rule. Before the first season with the rule, 220 had been chased just once across all seasons of the league.
"T20 cricket is about the economic model; it is about the batters," said Ashwin. "People turn up to watch T20 cricket to watch batters hit sixes at will. That sport is not gonna change. I would actually recommend looking at T20 as a separate sport, and not just a part of cricket alone. It's a separate sport by itself. The measurables need to be different."
Ashwin said bowlers in the shortest format should be assessed differently, with greater emphasis on the pressure they create rather than conventional statistics alone.
"How, what are the yardsticks for measuring a bowler?" he said. "Whether they're bowling good balls and getting hit, or are they bowling defensive deliveries? Are they able to extract enough pressure from both ends? So I think the way you measure a T20 game needs to be very different to any other format of the game."
Ashwin: World Cups should not be held every year
The former India spinner also voiced concerns about the future of ODI cricket, saying the format was losing its identity between Tests and T20s.
"ODI cricket is losing context. While Test cricket, there is a lot of balance. The batters are getting tested," he said. "I feel for the future of ODI cricket. Not so much Test cricket. I do believe that the governing body of the game needs to take the game by the scruff of its neck and get some context and play World Cups once every four years. I do not like watching the World Cup every year because that isn't a World Cup; it becomes an annual feature."
Ashwin added that he would prefer Test cricket to continue offering assistance to bowlers while allowing T20 cricket to retain its batting-friendly nature.
"The one thing I'd love to see is when there is life for bowlers and life is difficult for the batters, they must understand T20 cricket is where they have fun, and Test cricket is where they must adapt. I'd love to see a lot of help for bowlers in Test cricket, and I'd love to see T20 cricket where it is, and I'm excited to see how bowlers are gonna adapt. It's gonna be hard, but they'll have to adapt."
Ashwin, who retired from Indian cricket, is currently playing in the Major League Cricket, representing San Francisco Unicorns.
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