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St. Lucia: Going by its growing popularity among players and spectators, Twenty20 cricket is as important as Tests or One-Day Internationals, according to Australia Twenty20 captain Michael Clarke.
"It's (Twenty20) the same - it's exactly the same. For me, it's as serious as a one-day match or a Test match. It's become exactly the same," Clarke said.
"There's no such thing as a game of hit and giggle. That's something that has changed. It used to be about putting on a show, entertaining the crowd. But from a player point of view, that is no longer the case," he was quoted as saying by Daily Telegraph.
As Australia prepares for the Twenty20 World Cup, beginning on Friday in the West Indies, Clarke pressed on the need to introduce Twenty20 contracts and asked Cricket Australia (CA) to extend the same to explosive batsman David Warner and all-rounder David Hussey.
"I've told Cricket Australia that they (Warner, Hussey) should have contracts. I think there should be a Twenty20 contract introduced. I know once you play a certain number of Twenty20 games you can get upgraded to a Cricket Australia contract.
"But players like David Warner and David Hussey they're here playing in a Twenty20 World Cup. They should be paid (under contract) for that," he said.
"It's a form of the game that we want to be the best in the world at. We're not there yet, we're improving, but this is a way for us to start," he added.
