Talk 20: Cricket's new mania

SPORTS: The really short edition of the game could help cricket check the soccer onslaught.

The Twenty20 World Cup, which kicks off this Tuesday, is seeking to build on the debris of the disaster that was the Cricket World Cup in the Caribbean, and the unlikely prop of football's popularity.

Thus, the war cry of the broadcaster, ESPN-Star Sports, is why wait for four years to win the world cup, the opportunity knocks now. And it is hoping that the Twenty20 World Cup "" with three matches of fast-paced action every day, each lasting three hours "" will lure viewers the same way that a soccer tournament does.

As if to reflect the game's nature of a slightly elongated soccer match, the organisers have even shortened the name of the game's shortest format to T20. In the nature of its play, this format has quickly come a long way from a January day two-and-a-half years ago when a staggering 20,071 people packed the WACA ground in Perth, Australia, to see Western Australia beat Victoria in the first competitive Twenty20 match played in the sports-loving continent. The gates were shut half an hour before the first ball. This was WACA's first full house since 1981, when ruling elite of the time, West Indies, faced Australia in a one-day international (ODI). The next day, a crowd of 21,254 thronged the Adelaide Oval to see Australia-A pound Pakistan by 56 runs in the first international Twenty20 match.

It has come at an opportune time, when the longest version, the five-day Test, is grappling with low attendance at stadiums, falling television ratings and the waning interest of women and children. The ODIs have begun to appear repetitive and their middle overs boring.

"This will be a very exciting format and generate wide interest," says Abhiram Seth, executive-director, PepsiCo India, which is a presenting sponsor. It is widely believed that ESPN STAR is selling the advertising spots and sponsorship rights for more than the rates charged for ODIs.

"We have received a very good response from advertisers so far "" Pepsi, Hero Honda, Havell's and Nokia have seen the value of this inaugural world cup and have signed up. We are also in advanced negotiations with many more," says RC Venkateish, managing director, ESPN Software India, who would not give the rates, outlays, and so on.

Sundar Raman, managing director, MindShare, says there are only a few matches to go by but the signs are positive, and adds: "Advertises pay for audiences."

The audiences will be wooed, apart from the cricket, by nubile cheer cheerleaders moving to music belted out by eight disc jockeys. Together they will celebrate every four, six and wicket.Outside the ground, the shepherd will be ESPN-STAR's biggest commentary team for any cricket event: 20 in English, 10 Hindi and seven Tamil. STAR Cricket will adopt the cricket crazy format, which is based on football crazy.

Somewhere in the midst of it, will be 192 ad spots of 10 seconds each, spread over three matches beginning at 1.30 pm and ending at half past midnight. An ODI yields about 150 spots. There will also be about 160 spots for non-live action. ODIs yield 102.

The USP is the tighter format. "The format is of a shorter duration "" which means that you get the same slam bang cricketing excitement of an ODI in a tighter package with the extra garnish of music and entertainment. New rules and the mantra of "hit out or get out" also bring in added attraction which we feel would click with the cricket fan," says Venkateish.

Are people biting? They seem to be. The executive of a multinational company, a big advertiser, says many people can watch the whole of a 20-20 game from the beginning to the end. Test matches are watched only in patches and no one watches an entire ODI. Right now, the purists are not being heard.

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FENCING FAN'S GUIDE TO TWENTY20

Duration: One innings per side, each innings limited to a maximum of 20 overs

Timed Out: The incoming batsman must be ready to take guard or his partner to receive the next ball within one minute and 30 seconds of the fall of the wicket

The Result: Each side must have faced five overs in order to constitute a match. The Duckworth Lewis Method will be used in interrupted matches

Fielding Restrictions: Apply for the first six overs of each innings

Number of Overs per Bowler: A maximum of four. In a delayed or interrupted match, no bowler may bowl more than one fifth of the total overs

Repercussion of a Foot-Fault No Ball: A free hit

Over-Rate Penalty: Six runs for each over not bowled

Penalty for batsmen wasting time: Five runs, to be imposed by the umpire

Re-arrangement of Overs: Teams have one hour 15 minutes to bowl 20 overs. In the first innings, the number of overs to be bowled will be based on one over for every 3.75 minutes. In the second innings, overs will be reduced at the rate of one over for every 3.75 minutes lost, unless the first innings finished early