Most people are calling it a step that will revolutionize the game of cricket and make it truly acceptable internationally. I don't know about across Atlantic (as most of the previous attempts have fizzled out), but Twenty20 has succeeded in creating a buzz in the traditional cricketing region. Whether holding a worldcup as an outright tournament to introduce the game was a good bet, we'll have to see. But this year's T20 in South Africa again proved one fact; India and Pakistan remain top crowd attraction in the world of cricket. The last three weeks just show us plainly why the previous ODI worldcup was such a big disaster.
Although many of the game's ardent fans are making rude faces at the carnival atmosphere created for Twenty20 games. They don't like the 'shotgun' format, sneer at the dancers shaking booty on every boundary and wicket and criticize the attempt at forcing the game to re-align itself with the new world. But the truth remains; this event has succeeded in pulling people's attention back into a game which lost alot of its credibility in the past 10 years. Add that to the sponsorhsip fiascos faced by some cricketing boards and then consider that today is a world of fast paced life with an average attention span of a tv viewer is less than 10 minutes per channel, its no wonder the 'powers that be' of cricket had to resort to such tactics. I feel that people belonging to the old creed just hate the idea of change, specially when its brought on as a result of critical failures commercially by the cricket's ruling body during previous years.
Success of the current T20 worldcup in South Africa can partially be attributed to the lower ticket prices which allowed some people to give a chance to this game for the first time. It just filled up the stands for every match and the crowds were visibly pleased with the colorful atmosphere and 'boom boom' nature of the new format.
But its no arguing that ICC was successful in setting up an incredible tournament with an appropriate high-point finish.