The battle of reputation

versus Potential

www.espncricinfo.com/icc-world-twenty20-...nt/story/983027.html

Watch out for
Chris Gayle . Who else? Everything about this contest screams for a tour de force from the man

who epitomises above all others the hopes, the talents and the frustrations of

West Indies cricket in the 21st century..

Gayle may be an established local hero but Jos Buttler could yet be the coming man

and, if that is the case, then the Wankhede will soon feel like his second home,

following his signing for Mumbai Indians in the recent IPL auction..

England is where they are in the T20 format of the game because they tend to want not fully accept this format as an important sector of cricket. They are failing to realise that very soon T20 is going to be the top generator of interest in cricket. They are, however, set in their old ways of promoting the Tea-party like test cricket version as the ultimate form of cricket.

I disagree. Completely. Yes, England were stuck in the past when it came to limited overs cricket, but the entire set up and players have been overhauled over the last 12 months, and they have produced some excellent T20 players (Root, Morgan, Buttler, Stokes and Rashid among them).

The debacle at the World Cup last year forced them to integrate the younger players into the team and it has shown immediate dividends. Sure, they are not going to make the semi-finals this year - it is a year too early, and their bowling needs some serious work - but they are moving in the right direction when it comes to the shortest format of the game. To emphasise this point, since that World Cup debacle, England have a winning record in both ODIs and T20 cricket.

Also, I'd argue that Test cricket is still the purest form of the game. T20 has a place in world cricket, as do ODIs, but Test cricket is the truest form of the game - not a manufactured slogfest.