I admit it, I've come around.

Chris Gayle's magnificent Twenty20 innings for Western Australia against Queensland on Tuesday night - 92 off 40 balls - has convinced me that maybe the shortest form of the game has at least some value.

It was entertaining I'll give you that much. I counted two monster sixes that reached the third tier of the Gabba in the West Indian's blockbuster knock. That he did not reach triple figures seemed to be the only let down of the innings.

Gayle hit the ball cleaner than I have seen for a long while and his strokes, so powerful, were also classy in the majority. No ugly hanging out of the bat and hoping for the best. Sure the bowling was a bit off. But when an opener takes you apart like Gayle did, there's simply nothing that can be done.

And therein lies the oftentimes hidden beauty of Twenty20. Many will claim the true magnetism of this format is in the massive sixes, the fireworks, the quick scoring. OK, that's one way of looking at it. But on Tuesday night, I discovered what Twenty20 really means to me as a cricket lover.

It takes the battles of Test cricket - the mindgames and the momentum swings - and packs them into a 40-over timeslot. You can call me Captain Obvious, but this was the purpose behind ‘T20' all along.

For cricket fanatics like me (and maybe you as well), my loyalty to Test cricket is unwavering. I will always cherish the toughness of a five-day slog in unbearable sub-continent heat or the frustration of losing two days in England's unforgiving climate. That to me epitomises the appeal of cricket. Twenty-two players doing battle in a unique way. No other professional sport is played over five days.

Because of this staunch support of Test cricket, I always saw Twenty20 as the enemy - a blight on the game that was more about money making than actual cricket.

In many ways, those initial perceptions still ring true. I do still feel that this format is a fast-money scheme that will only really serve to diminish the skills of exceptional Test players.

But then I watch an innings like Chris Gayle's and realise that it's all within the same realm.

OK, so there are bigger hits, and astronomically high strike rates, and cheerleaders and fireworks and loud music. But there are also tactics. Sure it's sometimes unkind to the bowlers, but NSW teenager Patrick Cummins was able to dismiss the top three Queensland batsmen within three overs. How often in a Sheffield Shield game will that happen?

And Gayle on Tuesday night completely obliterated the Queensland bowling attack in a frighteningly brutal knock. It reminded me of the great attacking Test openers of my childhood - Slater, Hayden, Sehwag, Gibbs ... men that could change the course of the next four days in a single session of brutal batting.

These similarities have enticed me to watch more and more Twenty20, and I'll do so knowing that Test cricket is not under threat. ‘T20' is not here to phase out the long form of the game, but to complement it. It offers a timely alternative, and - now, finally - I can appreciate that.