The Indian Premier League which is the most popular leagues in the World since 2008 has been of great use for Indian cricket. With the inception of T-20 cricket in 2005, there has been a change in the way young cricketers play their game. T-20 has made the batsman more fearless, play more innovatively leading to sizable scores in fewer balls. The likes of Akshar Patel, Sanju Samson, Karun Nair and other young talents have impressed a lot lately. They were blessed with the exposure of playing with the greats like Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid the wall of Indian Cricket, VVS Laxman and learnt about the game.

T-20 format especially the Indian Premier League has attracted a lot more people into the stadiums. The television viewer’s number has increased by leaps and bounce. People love to see the batsman hit sixes and fours. The pitches in T-20 are very batting friendly. The crowds come to watch and love to see exciting finishes with matches going to the last over and sometimes even the last ball. T-20 format especially has been away for the players to be considered into the national squads. Even if not picked up for the national team, many small-town boys make a name for themselves by playing in the T-20 tournament making enough money from this format.

The IPL has also raised the standard of fielding in modern day cricket for India. They have wonderful fielders like Ravindra Jadeja, Suresh Raina, Virat Kohli, Ajiyanka Rahane, Rohit Sharma, and Manish Pandey.IPL has helped the Indian batsmen to play innovative strokes and that has helped them to play freely and ability to chase down huge scores easily. It has created a change in mindset among the players. By playing with the international stars they know their strengths and weakness. The young Indian players playing in the IPL have learnt from the coaches and the learnt the basics of the game.

But there are too many disadvantages are also come out from the IPL. There has become a trend now to play in IPL and not for international teams as they are not paying as players are being paid in IPL. In some cases, players, performing very well in IPL, are not able to perform up to the standard in international matches. Even the god of cricket, Sachin Tendulkar is also blamed that he plays for IPL and not for the T20 international format. This has also decrease the credibility of the Premier Leauge. Now in some cases due to IPL, some international cricket events are also rescheduled due to IPL, which is definitely not a good sign for the future of cricket.

With thousands of people shouting & going crazy with this format of T20, they don’t realize it’s other serious drawbacks. One of these is the present situation of Indian Cricket Test team which used to be a nightmare for world-class teams like Australia, England, South Africa etc.

The golden era of Sachin, Viru, Dravid, VVS & Ganguly is still remembered for their solid technique, class & talent which shook the world of cricket. India, though, has produced some really great players like MS Dhoni, Virat Kohli, Rahane, Rohit Sharma but there is still no replacement for the masters of that golden era. What’s the reason behind the failure of these prominent players in Test Cricket even after making too much name & gaining too much of attraction in ODIs & the shorter format of the game? I think it’s the rush for runs in quick time which is depleting their natural game, influencing their batting attitude & changing their approach towards the game.

Recent statistics shows that about 70% Test Matches in the world get concluded in 4 days or less. Earlier, the teams used to draw some matches and win others even against their strong opponents. The recent matches Team India played against England & Australia have witnessed some really good players struggling with their form. They don’t find it comfortable to survive even two sessions of a day with the new ball.

We have not seen a score of 600 or 700 from past many years. The average score in a test match innings has got to a restricted total of 300-400 runs. Slowly and gradually, we’ll see teams collapsing under a score of 100 & matches getting over in 2-3 days or even less, as seen in the recent Ashes series where Australia got bowled out for 60 odd runs. This is really a shame in the context of the game with the reputation of being played on an international level and that too for more than a century.

Is a captain really responsible for the changing scenario, when we ourselves have depleted our Test Cricket in such a horrifying way? The upcoming matches and Test series in the Indian subcontinent will make the picture more clear to the so called spectators & huge fans of IPL.