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'I didn't accept Twenty20 cricket at first' - Kallis

Firdose Moonda

April 10, 2012

Comments: 40 | Text size: A | A

Jacques Kallis, the South Africa allrounder, has admitted that, like many connoisseurs, he too did not buy into the idea of Twenty20 cricket when it was first mooted. Only on realising its popularity and inevitable growth was Kallis persuaded to work on his performances in the shortest format, and he soon found it improved other aspects of his game.

"A lot of us perhaps didn't accept Twenty20 cricket at first. I certainly didn't," Kallis said during an interview with ESPNcricinfo. "Then you realise that it's here to stay. It was a format of the game that I wanted to get better at and improve in, and I put a lot of time and effort into it." Kallis was dropped from South Africa's World Twenty20 squad in 2007 but worked his way back in after making notable efforts to increase his strike-rate during his time with Royal Challengers Bangalore in the IPL. He was a regular in the South African team in 2009 but stopped playing Twenty20 internationals after the World T20 in 2010, when his career needed to be better managed and South Africa looked to build different squads for each format.

Kallis recently featured in a one-off T20 against India in Johannesburg and made 61 off 42 balls. The match was played in his honour and the proceeds donated to his scholarship foundation. He also features regularly for Kolkata Knight Riders in the IPL. "I think it really has helped other formats as well. A long time ago, people were worried that one-day cricket was going to affect Test cricket negatively and I don't think it has. It has been really good for the game, as has T20 cricket."

The most obvious positive effect Kallis identified was that T20 cricket has helped speed up the sport as a whole. "Entertainment value has risen because the game is getting played a lot quicker and there are a lot more results," Kallis said. Throughout the 2000s, more than 70% of Tests yielded results. In the twenty years before that, the statistic hovered between 40 and 60%.

The numbers back up the opinion that Test cricket is healthy. Kallis says for it to stay that way, it should not be fiddled with. "The game doesn't need to change too much," he said. "The important thing, for me, is having big series, like there has been over the last while. [We need] some closely fought Test matches, Ashes series, our series against England, against Australia, some really exciting cricket needs to be played.

"It's getting a balance between bat and ball," Kallis said. "Not playing on flat wickets. Nobody wants to see 800 play 700, [they want] exciting contests and that is the key going forward: that the wickets we play on are conducive to good cricket and we have the chance of getting some good results."

South Africa's pitches are among those lauded for providing an even contest between bat and ball. With the team pushing for the No. 1 Test ranking, Kallis said they had the right grounding from playing on tough pitches at home and should be able to reach the summit when they play England in July. "We've got a big series against England coming up in a few months that will hopefully give us the opportunity to beat England and go to No. 1," he said. "It's a tough place to go to and win, we went there last time [in 2008] and did it."

South Africa spent four months at the top of the Test rankings in 2009 and bubbled under since then. If they reach those heights again, Kallis said they can have a sustained run as the world's best Test team. "Playing Test cricket, that's where you want to get judged. You still want to be judged as a cricketer on Test cricket. And it's important that it stays that way, that Test cricket is the No. 1."

Despite the success in Tests, Kallis said he will not be completely satisfied with his career until he has been part of a World Cup winning team. He previously expressed his desire to play until the 2015 World Cup to have another shot at the trophy.

"It [one-day cricket] probably is under the most pressure at the moment and they have made one or two rule changes to make it exciting," Kallis said. "But, the one World Cup that people want to win is the 50-over World Cup, which shows that 50-over cricket is still important. People talk, crowds talk about winning the 50-over World Cup. There is still a place for 50-over cricket."

Kallis said there was place for all three forms of the game. His opinion of T20 is different from what it first was, and he called it a "great revelation" because of the exposure it has given the sport. "It's been fantastic, to open the game up to new audiences. Families have come to T20s, people that didn't understand or follow the game are following the game. Hopefully they will enjoy it so much that they will start to learn a bit about the game and enjoy the five-day version as well."

Firdose Moonda is ESPNcricinfo's South Africa correspondent

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Posted by on (April 13, 2012, 17:17 GMT)

Kallis is far superior to the most over rated cricketer in the history tendulkar. Kallis plays the majority on more bowler friendly wickets where as tendulkar plays his on flat indian roads.

Posted by aarif on (April 13, 2012, 10:36 GMT)

@kh1902: Well, if Jaques Henry Kallis is over-rated then there is no human on earth who is properly rated. His achievements and service to SA cricket are really to a naive proportion. And from your comment I smell that you are yourself a fan of probably one of the most over-rated yet successful player the game has ever seen which is Mr. Tendulkar. Tendulkar is the real over-rated player across the last and current century. He has made a century of centuries but not more that 10% of them have served India when they really nedded them. Kallis has won many a games just on himself, but for Tendulkar I can only think of 1 important test match he could win on himself with the bat and thats it. He is a really over-rated cricketer.

Posted by NaniIndCri on (April 13, 2012, 9:11 GMT)

Strange comments, Test cricket only dies because of IPL and nothing else. Sport is for entertainment, and anything that does not provide that is bound to disappear. If test cricket is entertaining then it will stay else it will perish irrespective of T20. People talk as if test cricket was invented by gods, its created by men for entertainment (in fact all sports are). The meaning of entertainment is changing with changing life styles, so will sport.

Posted by jabrankundi on (April 13, 2012, 6:51 GMT)

@kh1902 Kindly look at the south African team lineup for the 2nd and 3rd test against New Zealand. Just look at the changes SA had to make when Kallis could not play the last test! I am sure you would be able to see the difference.

Posted by MrGarreth on (April 12, 2012, 20:02 GMT)

@kh1902, buddy if you cant see Kallis' value then it is you who does not understand the game. You seem to be so narrow-minded that you forget what he has contributed to SA. You mention de Villiers... yeah De Villiers would just mention Kallis as his mentor and as the one purely responsible for the turn in his career as a superstar for nothing right? But who needs your opinion? All those guys you mentioned would say the same thing: Kallis is the best SA has ever produced. And most Indian fans would agree that they would love to have him in their team. You say he hid behind batsmen? Oh yeah because SA had the greatest batting line up of all time?? Other than Smith and Kallis, no one has averaged over 50 for SA since the near 20 years since isolation. But his record speaks for itself. If getting 12000 runs and 270 odd wickets in both formats is soooo easy why hasnt anyone in the history of the game done it. Meh you know nothing.

Posted by r1m2 on (April 12, 2012, 19:21 GMT)

What Kallis does not realize is that he did not accept ANY form of the International cricket at first! His start in all forms were very poor, and he's been an even slower learner in the shorter forms of the game. I think only recently he's gotten good at pacing his inning in ODIs, and possibly that happened as a by product of him playing many T20s.

Posted by on (April 12, 2012, 19:07 GMT)

@kh1902 Since when is Kallis' job to be the main wicket taker? Hes always been a support bowler, even tho he bowls at 90mph. Hes got more catches than some wicketkeepers and hes scored more runs than most would ever dream to make. So tell me...wherein lies his failure? should he be scroing triple centuries instead of big centuries? should he be taking 15 wickets in a match before youre 'satisfied' with his performance? This guy give so many options to a captain just for that hes worth his weight in gold. Hes not as exciting as Ponting,Tendulkar,Lara,Donald or Steyn but he's reliable. And thats why people like you cannot see the value he brings to the table.

Posted by vrn59 on (April 12, 2012, 18:02 GMT)

Jacques Kallis is my favourite cricketer. Anyone who has scored 13,000 runs in Test cricket, 11,000 runs in ODI cricket, and 250 wickets respectively in both Test and ODI cricket is special. He is fit and he has been consistent for 17 years. This interview shows that he is not only a great cricketer on the field, but also understands the salient aspects of the game off the field; his assessment of the relationship between the three forms of cricket and the impact of spectators is fantastic. I hope he makes it to the 2015 World Cup; SA would be deserving of it if they win it; they have been a consistent side and have been competitive cricket around the world in all formats of the game in the past few years.

Posted by on (April 12, 2012, 15:51 GMT)

@kh1902. You Sir are overrated making such ridiculous comments. Kallis has proven over and over again that he is in a class above the rest. For someone who has scored over 10 000 and took more than 250 wickets in tests and ODI's, he has earned to be called on of the greats. He has faced formidable opponents like Mcgrath, Warne, Murali which are some of the best bowlers of all time. Kindly refrain from attacking a quality player if he gets a bit of praise from fans who recognize a good player when they see one

Posted by on (April 12, 2012, 15:33 GMT)

@kh1902: count his failure,it wont be more than failure of sachin,ponting or others. And when he fails with bat,he often makes it up with bowl. No matter how you see he is effectively sachin-zaheer or ponting-gillespi joined together and played well in crucial moments for saf many a times. He is the most underrated player in the world.

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