“20-20 for 2020” was the call given by Adam Gilchrist, flamboyant batsman who led the Deccan Chargers to a sensational win in the second edition of IPL T20 Championship a few months ago. ‘Gilly’ as he’s popularly known in India or ‘Church’ to his Aussie team mates, Gilchrist said the shorter version of the game was a perfect fit for the Olympics.

The explosive opener and record breaking wicket keeper, who was in town for a press conference, spoke about the appeal of the game to the public and reiterated that 20-20 cricket in a 16-day format should easily make its way into the 2020 Olympics. “With this game in the Olympics, more of the Asian Countries will get a chance to win a medal,”he said, obviously as a lure for countries like India to push the cause.

“It is very difficult to attract more people to the sport through the medium of Test cricket, but T20, on the other hand, is the perfect tool to do so”, he said.

Gilchrist thoroughly approved of experimenting with the 50-over ODI format of the game but felt that Test cricket should remain unchanged. He agreed with Sachin Tendulkar’s suggestion of splitting the one-day format into four innings, and was of the view that test cricket, being the purest form of the game, will always have a fan following. “Test cricket is a masterpiece and should be left untouched”, he said.

While T20 has taken off, with big tournaments like the IPL and the T20 World Cup, the former Australian vice captain feels that the schedule for a cricketer in a calendar year is a bit hectic though. “There is an overdose of cricket currently and the amount of cricket being played is well past the level it should be. This results in exhaustion of the players and a dip in form of the players as we have seen with the Indian team in the last two tournaments.”

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