The glorious game of cricket is at a crossroads once again. Several players are making a beeline towards over commercialised cricket, which basically revolves around T20 and other shorter formats even at the cost of playing for the country.
Leagues like the IPL have sprung up like mushrooms across the world and there are players today who just want to play in these extravagant leagues. There are many young players who only train to play T20 cricket these days, and are playing in a manner that is not commensurate with traditional techniques.
Old time cricketers wanted to play all formats of the game and top players were able to play all three versions with equal felicity and aplomb. Today, even a new format of 10 overs a side games has germinated, which is basically a slam-bang affair where bowlers are really running in to be slaughtered. In fact, for the last several years top bowlers of the game are being tonked for sixes easily by even lesser batsmen who are hitting great balls for six runs.
It is raw power that will often prevail in such formats, and the tendency of organisers is to favour the batsmen so that high scoring games are taking place. These ultra-commercialised games are very popular among the masses and they come to watch such games with coke and popcorn late at night under the lights.
{{/usCountry}}It is raw power that will often prevail in such formats, and the tendency of organisers is to favour the batsmen so that high scoring games are taking place. These ultra-commercialised games are very popular among the masses and they come to watch such games with coke and popcorn late at night under the lights.
{{/usCountry}}Such leagues are garnering a lot of sponsorship as well. Television is benefiting, as is visual and social media.
The World Test Championship has added an edge to test cricket once again, but on the whole traditional cricket is on the downswing. If you ask any top players, they will say they want to play test matches more than anything else. Sadly, we do not see too many spectators turning up for test matches in India, whereas in places such as England and Australia, test cricket is still thriving. However, tournaments like the Big Bash League (BBL) and The Hundred are taking over the fancy of the masses even in these traditional bastions of test cricket.
The need is to popularise red ball cricket and specifically test cricket, because the game’s future depends on the longer format in terms of quality, if not the moolah. The true nature of this sport will go out of the window and cricket will not remain cricket anymore if the slam-bang version continues to dominate. Such cricket does not really involve a battle of attrition and it doesn’t usually involve centuries or double centuries. It doesn’t even involve a captain’s strategising for long periods, making assiduous field changes and bowlers who are pegging away at the patience of the batsman.
The T20 format of cricket is more about gut feel and instantaneous instinct. The captain’s role actually reduces and become a little more like hockey or football because the fast-paced game does not really leave too much time for strategy or discussion.
Fifty overs cricket is actually suffering too nowadays, and even the ‘real’ world cup might sadly lose its zing. Even players like Moeen Ali are talking about the end of one day cricket, one day! Some of the greatest contests between top teams of the world have taken place over the 50 years format.
Players are now playing 50-overs game in the T20 style and there are scores of 450-plus these days, whereas of course they can also be bowled out for 120 runs because they go hammer and tongs right from the beginning in T20 style.
What needs to be done is to maintain a balanced approach to cricket, much as a supreme batsman is balanced in his stance or while playing the cover drive. Toppling over to one side is always going to create havoc and is a potential recipe for disaster. The way forward is to ensure that youngsters are taught to play ‘proper’ cricket, and they are allowed into the shortest versions of the game only later in their careers, perhaps after the age of 23.
Our glorious game is certainly in the throes of uncertainty at present, and only a head down strategy will see it through!
vivek.atray@gmail.com