Now, teenagers will be born into 20-over cricket, will have to acquire the patience to play over 50 overs and watch as only a small number learn the intricacies of test cricket. It is like learning to write a précis first and then constructing an essay around it. It won’t be easy but then, it wasn’t easy for everyone to adapt to 50-over cricket initially.

Already, kids are taking to it easily. Names you hadn’t heard a great deal of are looking very good. With the Mumbai Indians, with whom I am working at the moment, Abhishek Nayar looks special and Dhawal Kulkarni looks like he has it. In the dug-out I was asking people where Gony is from and nobody knew. That will change. Don’t belittle them, don’t weigh them in different scales, don’t ask how good they will be on a fourth day turning track because they are playing a different game with different skills. Music didn’t suffer with the arrival of multi-track recording and while my grandmother may not have been very good with a microwave oven (initially she called the fridge the cold cupboard!), you don’t mind eating what comes out of it.

Everytime there is change, there are early adopters and there are laggards. If people had an option, few things, if any, would change. But we don’t control the world, we cannot stop its movement. We can approve or criticise but the tide always comes in because somebody somewhere likes it. It is a bit like the news we now have on television. Some people believe you must report the truth others think it is too much of a burden. 20-20, and the youngsters who are taking to it, are creatures of our times. I yearn for a Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron but my kids thought it was slow and boring!

... contd.