Cricket has not been played at the Olympic Games since 1900, where Britain and France were the only two teams that participated. There have, however, been numerous discussions geared towards reviving the sport at the Games in recent years, with T20 cricket identified as the best format. Narine, however, believes that T10 could also be a consideration.
“The T10 format is more exciting than the T20 format. In T20s, the batters take a few overs before starting their attacking skills, however, in T10 the batters probably look for only one or two balls,” Narine told the Daily Times.
“There’s always a possibility to attract new fans through a shorter format of cricket and more exciting cricket. It will be an exciting thing if cricket is included in the Olympics as well and hopefully, maybe T10 could be a part of the Olympics,” he added.
The 10 over-format of the sport was introduced in the United Arab Emirates in 2017, it is, however, yet to be widely adopted.
Narine will be among a number of West Indies players taking part in this season’s edition. The spinner will represent the Deccan Gladiators, alongside West Indies T20 captain Kieron Pollard.
With his team needing 108 for victory, Gayle hit two fours and two sixes to take his side to 111-3 after Phil Salt put them well on their way with a blistering knock of 63 from just 20 balls. Salt hit four fours and seven sixes before he was out with just six runs needed.
Salt and Gayle, who was unbeaten for the second match running, put on 70 in just four overs as Team Abu Dhabi raced to their sixth win of the season.
Mark Deyal was the best of the Braves’ bowlers with 2-16.
Earlier, Chennai Braves were asked to bat and only managed 107-6. Only Mohammad Shahzad with 53 from 30 balls. Shahzad hit four fours and four sixes that took Braves to 75-3 inside in the eighth over.
Despite the win that put them on 12 points, Team Abu Dhabi slipped to second place on net run-rate behind Deccan Gladiators.
Powell smashed 56 from just 22 balls to power Northern Warriors to 128-6 from their 10 overs. The Jamaican all-rounder, the leading run-scorer in the tournament with 238 runs, smashed five sixes and four fours as he and Ross Whiteley hit the Delhi Bulls bowlers to all parts.
They were particularly severe on Romario Shepherd, who took 1-42 from his two overs. In Shepherd’s second over that went for 25 runs, he was hit for three consecutive sixes by Powell, who now has a tournament-leading 20 sixes.
Whiteley joined in the carnage hitting the last ball of the Shepherd over for six.
Together, they added 66 in just 19 balls for the fourth wicket partnership after the Warriors had lost the wickets of Kennar Lewis (0), Moeen Ali (10) and Samit Patel (13) with just 34 runs on the board by the fifth over.
Shiraz Ahmed, who eventually got Powell out, was the best of the bowlers with 2-22 from two overs.
In their turn at bat, the Bulls made a mockery of the chase as Rahmanullah Gurbaz destroyed the Warriors’ bowling. He smashed six fours and fives sixes on his way to 70 off 32 balls as he and Luke Wright, who was unbeaten on 40, enjoyed an opening stand of 115.
The partnership was broken in the eighth over when Gurbaz was bowled by Umair Ali.
Romario Shepherd lasted four balls before he was bowled by Rayad Emrit for five. Sherfane Rutherford retired hurt for three so it was left to Wright and Eoin Morgan to administer the final rights, Morgan hitting a six off the penultimate ball of the match to secure the victory.
Emrit’s two overs went for 20 runs and was the most economical of the Warriors’ bowlers as with the exception of Ali, every other bowler used conceded more than 15 runs an over.
After six games, the Delhi Bulls are second in the standings with eight points behind Team Abu Dhabi with 10.
Powell’s Warriors have two points from just one win in their six games and are fifth in the six-team standings.
The towering left-hander has made his name at the top of the batting order by taking apart opposition bowlers. As such, the batsman’s feats in the shortest format are unequalled, having racked up a world-leading 14,000 plus runs in an explosive career. In recent years, however, strategic adjustments have seen a few batsmen opt for a more considered approach to the innings.
Gayle believes such adjustments have made T20 cricket less explosive in the first six overs and as such less entertaining.
''I think, with T10 cricket, that's how T20 cricket started. From the first over, batters used to go but T20 cricket has slowed down dramatically and T10 cricket has now raised the bar a bit,'' Gayle, who is currently taking part in the Abu Dhabi T10 League,” said.
''They're killing the entertainment in T20 cricket, straight up, because in those first six overs, we can get more as openers but guys are taking their own time,” he added.
''Sometimes they bat to get a score and they take away from the fire they should be bringing to the batting department in the first six overs, but T10 is spot on and hopefully, we'll see more T10 coming around.''
