The reaction was similar when One Dayers came to existence and fortunately the knockers of One Day cricket were wiped out as for three decades Test and One-Day benefi ted from each other. The One Day cricket has helped Test cricket to a large extent, the athleticism, the stroke play, pursuit of a target. But there is a major diff erence – it was the Test cricketers who went into 50 overs and brought things back. It is almost impossible to name me one cricketer who started initially as a One Day specialist who went into Test cricket and made it. The issue is because of the technique required for the shorter version. A lot of outstanding One-day cricketers who have never ever been able to translate their technique to Test matches and the names that come to kind immediately are Michael Bevan and Yuvraj Singh.

If the transition from Oneday to Test in terms of technique is difficult and almost impossible where does it leave the newer version, the Twenty20 cricket? There is lot of argument that no one coming through Twent20 will learn the proper techniques required for Tests. India which has a fully developed Twenty20 format, in the form of IPL, is a classic example where the batting heirs to the three outstanding batsmen are yet to be unearthed. Suresh Raina supports this theory as he had played a record 98 one-dayers  before he gained his Test spot and his record after 15 Tests is 710 runs at an average of 29.58. Another stalwart of the shorter version, Virat Kohli got his breakthrough in Tests after 59 ODIs and in six Tests he has made 234 runs at a paltry 21.27. Australia’s David Warner, another Twenty20 specialist and hero, has scored 203 runs in 7 innings; the last three against India produced only 37 runs.

Most of their failures have been due to their poor ability on the backfoot against bouncing and in particular seaming deliveries. For the Indians on their home pitches, it's easy to drive on the front foot and hit through the line. However in the fi rst two Tests in Australia where the bounce and movement were abundant the Twenty20 specialists struggled as they continue to play horizontal shots. Unfortunately the veterans also succumbed to this flaw by devoting the last few years to Twent20 cricket.

India’s legend Sunil Gavaskar rightly pointed out the problem as he feels the Twenty20 game has increased the bat-speed of young batsmen and they don't follow the method of letting the ball come to the bat and play with soft hands. The people to blame for this are the coaches. In Australia at the grass root level, the young boy is asked to go for shots initially as a 9 year old, the theory being once the batsmen feel confi dent on his strokes, the defensive technique would automatically develop. Basically the coaches don’t have the courage or the patience to ask the boys to polish their techniques.

Sehwag is once in a blue moon success story who plays without moving his feet and he will survive as long as his hand eye coordination and refl exes are sharp. But when Warner, Marsh and other try to play away from the body the natural movement takes the inner edge and play into the wickets. Once you develop your batting methods it is literally impossible to rewire the techniques after a certain age.