New Delhi: With the cricketing world still coming to terms with the game’s latest format, T20 cricket in 2010 was still an idea waiting to be embraced and explored. Standalone T20I tours were still unheard of, and teams were happy to do their bit by playing the odd T20 at the end of a full-fledged rubber — more a perfunctory compulsion than an organic acceptance.
The humming, buzzing potential of T20 cricket was yet to be tapped and while the likes of Yuvraj Singh and Shahid Afridi had shown the world what raw ambition and an unshackled mind could achieve, T20s were far from the inexhaustible behemoth they would become in the decade that followed.
The era of packing the batting line-up with big-hitters was still over a decade away although teams usually carried a few designated hitters for death overs. Yusuf Pathan from India, Chris Gayle in West Indies, Kevin Pietersen for England, and Afridi in Pakistan espoused that thought even as the presence of batters who approached their innings in traditional building blocks — now almost disparagingly called ‘anchors’ — exemplified the safety-first philosophy.
It is in this context that the 2010 iteration of the T20 World Cup must be viewed. The tournament was played just ten months after the 2009 event and nine months before the 2011 50-over World Cup, and was sandwiched between the 2010 editions of Indian Premier League (IPL) and Champions League, both of which were won by MS Dhoni-led Chennai Super Kings. The weird scheduling pretty much explains the tepid recall value of the tournament.
While Dhoni’s first of the five IPL titles ignited a fandom bordering on devotion in India, the global stage still awaited its first true-blue T20 superstar. The presence of Test heavyweights Michael Clarke , Shivnarine Chanderpaul, and Graeme Smith in their respective T20 teams didn’t help either. Enter Pietersen and Eoin Morgan, but more on them later.
Held in West Indies just three years after they hosted the 50-over World Cup, the matches were played on three grounds – Kensington Oval in Bridgetown, Barbados; Providence Stadium in Providence, Guyana; and Beausejour Stadium in Gros Islet, Saint Lucia. The 12-team competition witnessed the debut of Afghanistan which marked the first instance of an Affiliate member competing in a major ICC tournament. And there was no India-Pakistan contest for the second year running, a crucial factoid that shows just how languid the market forces were in realising the top-dollar potential of the rivalry.
Placed delicately at the inflection point of T20s’ evolution, the 2010 World T20 saw game’s (self proclaimed) gatekeepers England win their first ICC trophy, beating their Ashes adversaries Australia. Talk about tradition meeting innovation.
Led by an unassuming Paul Collingwood, England were yet to dabble with their no-holds barred approach they now refer to as Bazball. But in Pietersen and Morgan, they had the personnel who dared to dream and challenge the glass ceiling. It’s of little surprise that 16 years on, the two men are revered for their unconventional thinking that, back then, was in equal parts revolutionary and repulsive.
Pietersen, having announced his arrival on the world stage in the unforgettable Ashes of 2005, treated the world to his switch hits and reverse sweeps even though southpaw Morgan, who debuted less than a year before, was yet to find his inventive streak that would become his hallmark. Nine years later, together with coach Trevor Bayliss, Morgan would form an enviable tag team that fetched England their first 50-over crown.
For Indian fans, there wasn’t much to remember as Dhoni’s side, having eased past South Africa and Afghanistan in group stage, lost all three of their Super 8 games to Australia, West Indies and Sri Lanka to make a hasty retreat. The only high point for the 2007 champions was Suresh Raina’s maiden T20I ton, the first occasion of an Indian crossing the three-figure mark in T20s. Two months on, Raina, would hit a hundred on Test debut to become the first Indian to hit a century in each format. The World Cup ton was a precursor to Raina’s remarkable IPL career that saw him rack up over over 5000 runs in the league.
The defining moment of the tournament though was Michael Hussey tearing into Saeed Ajmal in the Australia-Pakistan semi-final. Those were the days when 18 runs in the last over were not chased. Those were also the days when teams rarely bowled spin in the 20th over. Both teams took that leap of faith, and Hussey creamed three sixes and a four off Ajmal to take Australia into the final with a ball to spare.
The final, however, was a bit of an anticlimax with England stopping Australia at 147/6 before chasing it down in 17 overs. Pietersen’s audacity won him the Player of the Tournament award, a fitting reward for the batter ahead of his time.
