Australian legend Mark Taylor has made a bold statement on how the modern players approach the game, especially the T20 cricket, amidst the fearless batting in the ongoing IPL 2026. The way T20 cricket is played today has completely changed the mindset of batters.
In the golden era, it was all about patience and building an innings, but it has now become all about attacking from the very first ball. And Mark Taylor feels that T20 cricket looks so different that it almost feels like a separate sport, not the game of the gentlemen.
Mark Taylor makes bold statement on the T20 revolution
In his era, staying at the crease was the most important thing. The former Australian captain Taylor, was known for his strong technique and ability to stay at the crease for long periods. Players were taught to protect their wicket first, spend time in the middle, and then slowly increase the scoring.
But today’s T20 cricket is completely opposite. Players are trained to go for big shots from the start. Batters are expected to score quickly, take risks, and keep the scoreboard moving all the time, with Taylor noting the focus has shifted from “don’t get out” to “score as fast as possible.”
Mark Taylor admits he’d be a different player in today’s T20 era
Taylor feels that if he had grown up in the modern era, he would have been a very different player. He would have had to learn power hitting and aggressive batting, because that is what the modern game demands now as teams are winning matches by playing fearless cricket.
Mark Taylor on the Turn it Up! show on Channel Nine’s Wide World of Sports YouTube channel: “I’d love to say yes (on being able to adjust to the shortest format). Look, I think if that had been the game I was brought up on, I would’ve had to. There is a certain amount of skill, different skills nowadays; it is more about hitting skills.
If that was the game I had to play as I was developing as a cricketer, sure, I would have tried to whack the ball over midwicket. The game I learned in New South Wales was about staying in. Don’t get out, and then you might be able to score some runs.”
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Mark Taylor calls T20 a completely different game amid the batting shift
The aggressive batting trend is even clearer in the franchise tournaments like the IPL. Most of the top batters are scoring at very high strike rates, ranging from over 150 to nearly 200. This shows how much importance is now given to fast scoring rather than long innings.
In the past, losing a wicket was a big deal, but players are now ready to take chances because they know they have only 20 overs to make an impact. And that’s why Taylor believes that even though the rules are mostly the same, the way the game is played has changed so much that it feels like a completely different version of cricket.
Mark Taylor signed off by saying, “T20 cricket, it’s the same amount of players, but it’s a different game. It almost shouldn’t be called cricket because it’s a different game. It’s the same amount of players; it’s still 10 dismissals, and you have to bowl a side out, but you’ve only got 20 overs to bat. You are taking out the accountability of getting out, which was the essence of batting when I was a kid.”
