Twenty20... It's constant entertainment.

On an international stage we have seen the rise of the Twenty20 World Cup, won most recently by Pakistan which in itself brings greater interest to this form of the game as Pakistan aren’t considered powerhouses of international cricket, and on the domestic stage we have Twenty20 domestic leagues in India (The IPL), Australia (the Big Bash) and England (Twenty20 Cup).

We have also seen the emergence of the Twenty20 Champions League which takes all the domestic winners of their respective T20 competitions and pits them against each other to determine the world champion T20 outfit.

Not bad for a form of cricket that was only established in 2003, right?

This massive growth in the shortest version of the game has shown just how popular T20 cricket has become to fans from all over the world. A whole match can be watched in just over three hours, which is a lot more convenient than the other shorter form of the game in One Day Internationals (ODIs)…well that and the spectacle that is T20 cricket. Fast paced, explosive action for twenty overs each side that excites audiences and puts them on the edge of their seat. That will pull crowds every day of the week.

Records often tumble on a game-by-game basis in this form of the game and some of the figures are astounding. Yuvraj Singh currently holds the record for the fastest fifty in T20 cricket in an amazing twelve balls. Yes that’s right, TWELVE balls. That is a strike rate of over four hundred. Let me put that in Lehman’s terms for those who aren’t familiar with cricketing jargon; Singh was hitting an average of 4.16 runs for every ball he faced in that innings. It’s no wonder why people keep flooding the grounds for every T20 game held at either state or international level. It is almost like a new buzz and atmosphere comes over the ground in a T20 game.

Compare this, in stark contrast, to the current state of ODIs. To put it simply, they are in trouble. Viewers are finding them boring, with generally only the first five overs and the last five overs creating any excitement for the crowd. The middle forty overs in each innings are leaving a lot to be desired from the crowd’s point of view as they are growing weary of the slow run rates and lack of boundaries generalised with this part of the innings.

Compare the T20 match between Australia and Pakistan at the MCG on Friday night. A whopping 60,045 people turned out to watch the twenty overs per side fixture. Two days later at the same venue, a meagre 25,463 people showed to watch the opening one day match against the West Indies. Hardly impressive figures when compared to the massive numbers pulled by T20 crowds, even with the exciting Chris Gayle and Kieron Pollard featuring in the travelling side.

But what is the remedy to these falling numbers and what seems to be an insurmountable task of becoming the most popular shorter form of the game? There have been suggestions to shorten ODIs to forty overs per side, but in reality, will this make this form of the game any better? It will surely just shorten the length of the game and will be seen as a way of replicating T20s, driving popularity even further down.

Another idea is to shorten the series length of ODIs, which seems to be the most feasible idea as 7 match series’ can often be stale and repetitive if a side happens to take an unassailable lead. Making ODIs a scarcer spectacle in cricket could also drive up anticipation and therefore numbers entering grounds.

Whatever decision the ICC makes, which is bound to be forced upon them soon with the current state of the game, the T20 format of the game not only looks like a smash-hit, but is also here to stay.

After MS Dhoni decided to bat after winning the toss, in a must-win game, it seemed it might be a prosperous day with the bat when Virender Sehwag hit the second ball of Mitch Johnson’s first over the boundaries. However, it was the response by Johnson which swung the momentum and series to Australia. Two beautiful swinging deliveries on the 4^th and 6^th ball of the over saw Sehwag and Gambhir make early exits.

All of a sudden, it was down to Tendulkar and Yuvraj to stand up and deliver, second time round for the little master. A couple of boundaries were hit and it seemed the two were happy to take the singles and dispatch the bad balls. Nothing too risky. But some super reflexes from Doug Bollinger saw the end of Tendulkar. A crucial wicket, considering the way Tendulkar played last time around

Dhoni strode out to the crease needing to play a blinder, but you wouldn’t have bet against it. The scene seemed set for a classic Dhoni special. Well, until Yuvraj’s luck fell in his face.

The big hitting batter hasn’t been at his best this series and the way he got out perhaps summed up his series. Bollinger’s delivery hit his pads, looped over his shoulders, and in an attempt to get back in the crease he managed to paddle the ball into the stumps. Freakish stuff it was.

When Raina followed almost instantly, India didn’t look like they would make three figures.

Jadeja came and steadied the ship with Dhoni, even if it was at a slow rate. At 50/5 India were slowly recovering, but Dhoni nearly holed out to Voges of McKay. The two continued to build and took the home side to 75/5 to give hope of reaching a mediocre total.

However, Bollinger returned and took out the Indian captain with ball one and Harbhajan with ball three, to dig another hole for India.

Praveen Kumar and Jadeja now had the job of getting a decent score, and they did quite good work. After some big hitting from Kumar and a little bit of luck for Jadeja, they took the score from 75/5 to 149/5. Jadeja had reached a fighting fifty, but his knock came to an end when Bollinger picked up his 5^th wicket of the innings.

Kumar kept hitting, and at one stage it appeared India might reach an unthinkable total of 200, but it was not to be as Kumar ran out of partners and India finished with a total of 170.

Australia was in touching distance of a series win, and really, the pitch didn’t seem like one which was causing a mountain of problems.

Watson and Marsh were in form, and they took Australia to 24/0 after only four overs. However, Munaf Patel trapped Marsh leg before, to rekindle a little light of hope.

Ponting and Watson then started to bat more conservatory as they didn’t need to score at a fast rate. Dhoni was in trouble, so he threw the ball to talismanic Harbhajan Singh. He didn’t disappoint.

He quickly snared both Watson and Ponting in consecutive overs to bring India back into the game. Australia had gone from 84/1 to 90/3 quickly, but they were still in a good position. Meanwhile, India needed another quick wicket to really heap the pressure upon the Aussies.

Hussey and White had other ideas though. The pair added a valuable fifty three runs to take Australia to 143/4 before White was dismissed by Raina. But the hard work had already been done, as Hussey and Voges guided Australia to an impressive six-wicket win.

After a six-wicket performance, no surprises that Bollinger was awarded man of the match. Ponting regarded the series victory as one of the best he’s been involved in, and fair play to the Aussies. While Dhoni conceded that the initial burst of wickets took the game away from India and they were always chasing from there on.