T10 gaining legitimacy amid questions over shrunken formats

As grey clouds broke out into rain ahead of play on day five of the T10 League, Sharjah's ground staff were thrown action with covers hastily sourced and stretched over the square. Strong winds swept the rain to safety initially but its more sustained return cost us the first game after just nine overs of play. As it then ate into an over of the second game, cricket's most minimal form was being further reduced.

In the IPL, a minimum of five overs constitutes a contest when something like rain interferes. At the T10 League this formula is replicated, retaining a legitimacy to the contest and not allowing it to spiral into something like a single-over affair.

With the introduction of T10 or the ECB's controversial plans for The Hundred, however, it does beg questions of cricket's desire for easily digestible versions for the masses. Many purists asked the same of Twenty20 cricket when the format was introduced and it has been regurgitated consistently during the infancy of T10.

Where will this dilution end? At what point do we say enough is enough? Will we slide toward golf's The Match where, say, Virat Kohli takes on Shahid Afridi in a money-spinning range-hitting contest?

Of course, this is hearsay. But question marks over the validity of shrunken cricket do feel just. Where do the increasingly blurred lines of an elite sporting event and "cricketainment" - the league's slogan, here - divide? At which point do sixes en masse become gaudy displays that draw a line in the sand?

Many will feel that T10 cricket has already done just that. But there is clearly something in T10 and organisers must be praised for converting last year's celebrity-fuelled tournament - that at times felt like one long advert - into something that in its second edition feels more legitimate.

The empty blue seats of Dubai at the ongoing Test match between Pakistan and New Zealand compared to the comfortably greater numbers in Sharjah serve as conveniently timed supporting evidence of where cricket is headed. Sure, a prime location and kick-off outside of work hours aids the T10 cause but weekends just extrapolate the point.

A stellar cast of players and coaches have no issue either. Yes, they are being paid well for their services but they are also clearly enjoying T10 cricket and they're taking it seriously. Playing with freedom has brought the best out of batsmen particularly and the fun they are having on the pitch has certainly infiltrated the supporters in the stands.

Just ask Richard Gleeson.

"It was a great experience to get out there in front of the crowd and experience it first hand. It was everything I thought it would be, it's quick, it's fast, it's a bit chaotic but it's good fun."

Or Andre Fletcher.

"I'm enjoying it, I love the atmosphere and going there and having fun."

The extended format and structure of this second edition of the T10 League provides added substance. We are clearly watching watered down cricket but two league stages, comprehensive eliminators and a showpiece final mean that every match counts.

And players are clearly seeing T10 cricket enhance their game, with Twenty20 surely set to benefit from its shrunken sibling. It forces everyone to be ready to go from the very off and is seeing players develop their arsenal by pulling every trick out of the bag and placing some new ones in it.

For someone like Nepal legspinner Sandeep Lamichhane, T10 is providing a new challenge and demands greater skill in implementing every one of the variations that has seen the youngster become one of the hottest emerging players on the T20 circuit.

"You have to make every plan very quickly in T10 and you have to be more aware than T20," he said. "It is really hard to combine all the things from planning to then implement them. The more I can use my variations, the more it will work for me."

England allrounder Liam Dawson is another who has had to adapt, explaining how alterations in pace are aiding his T10 game. Every six balls is played essentially as a death over and each of the tournament's representatives will harness the skills so pivotal to T20 and 50-over cricket.

It all serves the T10 cause in its desire for legitimacy and also suggests the format could, and maybe should, be as much fat as cricket can afford to trim before it loses its sporting prestige.