Before this week, it was a long time since I had contributed to Sportingo, but the time has come to share my feelings. The birth of these emotions was September 24, 2007, and they have been lingering ever since and continue to cause me a headache.

The date referred to, as I am sure most Indian cricket fans would be able to tell you, was the day India beat Pakistan in a last-over thriller to claim the first World Twenty20 title. How different the world would be if Misbah-ul-Haq’s attempted flip over fine leg had cleared the fielder.

That game, alongside a failed bid for international screening rights to Indian cricket matches, has led to the feeding frenzy that is Twenty20.

Before I continue I should make it absolutely clear I am not an old crusty (check out my photo taken just a few weeks ago!) and not averse to progress or change. However, the world of cricket as I know it, and grew up with, has changed forever. For the good? I reckon not.

I keep on hearing players talking about the importance of the Test match and how that is where the real challenges lie. But is it not the case that the Test series between England and India is two Tests long as a result of the players wanting to return home for Christmas and their paymasters agreeing to a seven-match one-day series? Seven matches, for goodness sake!

Is it not the case that Ricky Ponting, Daniel Vettori, Jacques Kallis, Uncle Tom Cobley and all have signed up to the Indian Premier League at the prospect of earning more money than they can ever have dreamed of?

Now, I don’t begrudge the players earning good money but is there some kind of hypocrisy in talking about the primacy of one, whilst contributing to the growth of the other? (I won’t even mention the issue of player burnout which has now gone to the back of the pile of paperwork on Players Union Representative desks around the world)

The main issue I have with Twenty20 is its omnipotence and how its growth will affect the sport I love and hold close to my heart. It is already impinging on Test schedules, led to tour cancellations, and spawned various offshoot competitions here, there and everywhere.

It is impossible to keep up with them all. Meaningless battles made up of all star teams contribute nothing to the long-term development of the game and fail to showcase the skills of players. After all, who (outside India) can name the winner of the inaugural IPL? (It was Rajasthan Royals if you’re interested). I am sure there are not many cricket fans around the world who cannot tell you the results of the past few series between India and Australia or the Ashes.

And the bastard brother that dare not speak its name, ICL, has led to the banning of quality players such as Shane Bond and now Yousuf Youhana, the (possible) non-selection of Vikram Solanki and Chris Read, and an apartheid system within the game. How can it be right that players playing the same game and plying their trade be considered unworthy of selection because one national board decrees that be the case?

If anyone can explain this succinctly to me I shall be forever in their debt as I am still bemused by the whole issue. However, that warrants many more words in its own right.

I try to convince myself, as do the players, that the Test match will survive. However, being a realist, the money on offer for competing in the short game is so attractive that our cricketing future may consist of a rolling Twenty20 programme around the world, attended by madcap fans waving foam fingers and cheerleaders desperately trying to whip up an atmosphere.

To ensure survival, what is needed now from the ICC is clarity, consistency and leadership, qualities conspicuous by their absence in the past. Supporting and improving the infrastructure of the existing Test match nations must be given priority over chasing the gold at the end of the Chinese or American rainbow.

Allowing the development of a clear framework for an IPL and an international Twenty20 championship and domestic tournaments, not the current piecemeal arrangements, must be put in place so that the fans can give credence to the tournaments and their champions.

Cricket will undoubtedly survive as it a global game with a groundswell of support that will never let it flounder and die. It is in what format that is the question that is the elephant in the room.