‘If you're a healthy player in this league, you're expected to play’. Those were the words of Adam Silver, Commissioner, National Basketball Association (NBA), the second richest sporting league in the world.
Addressing the media on Wednesday, Silver’s message was also directed at NBA’s broadcast partners; with media rights up for renewal soon. The league currently makes $2.7 billion annually, behind only the NFL in terms of annual rights earnings.
Teams have been told to ensure that no more than
‘If you're a healthy player in this league, you're expected to play’. Those were the words of Adam Silver, Commissioner, National Basketball Association (NBA), the second richest sporting league in the world.
Addressing the media on Wednesday, Silver’s message was also directed at NBA’s broadcast partners; with media rights up for renewal soon. The league currently makes $2.7 billion annually, behind only the NFL in terms of annual rights earnings.
Teams have been told to ensure that no more than one star player - one who has made the All-Star or All-NBA teams in any of the three previous seasons - is unavailable for the same game.
Now, hold that thought and contrast this to how Indian cricket comes through for its broadcasters. Yes, the best Indian cricketers vie for national prestige at ICC World Cups. Understandably, the lucrative IPL also sees a full house. But what about the depleted field in bilateral cricket, which makes up for a majority of the games played, year after year?
Let’s revisit 2022. Which Indian cricketer played the most ODIs? Not captain Rohit Sharma or ace batter Virat Kohli, but Shikhar Dhawan (22 matches) – he eventually lost his ODI place. Kohli featured in half those matches. Rohit played even fewer matches (8). Why? Because it was a T20 World Cup year.
With ICC events becoming an annual affair, alternating across the two white-ball formats have become the bane of bilateral cricket. And, we haven’t even come to Test cricket yet, which faces its own existential question.
In 2023, it was young left-arm pacer Arshdeep Singh who played the most T2OIs (12) for India. Kohli and Rohit did not play any T20Is at all, this being an ODI World Cup year.
During this year’s India tour of West Indies, Kohli and Rohit sat out mid-way though the ODI series to trial other aspirants for the year-ending World Cup.
Half of the matches India played in 2023 were played at home where Board of Control for Cricket in India’s (BCCI) broadcast partners shelled out big sums – bilateral cricket was more expensive than IPL, until last month – expecting bang for their buck. The Indian board also earns handsomely from other commercial partners (title rights holders, kit sponsors, jersey sponsors) who invest in a star-studded Indian team, not the one which will have the big names 'resting' or 'taking a break'.
The primary reason why India rarely plays bilateral cricket at full strength is the workload management of players. That's something that NBA thought of too, before putting the new regulations in place.
“The science is inconclusive,” said Silver. “We don’t see any data that players increase their likelihood of getting injured as they get along in the season or back-to-back (matches).”
It's an argument put forth by some in cricket too. Former India fast bowler Zaheer Khan has spoken of bowling muscles strengthening with a regular dose of cricket, over frequent rests in the name of workload management.
One can argue that basketball does not have the club versus country clash in calendar to address. Cricket South Africa’s SA20 league makes it mandatory for their best local players to play over any international commitments. But cricket boards, particularly well-off ones like the BCCI may to want to ponder if they foresee, their flagship T20 leagues taking up a major chunk of the calendar?
In NBA, teams play 82 matches over 178 days. Premier League football sees 380 matches played over 9 months. IPL, the most well-structured of all T20 leagues, has a total of 74 matches played across two months. In future, plans are to expand it to 94 matches, but to wrap it up within not more than two-and-half months. Whereas, India is still scheduled to play around 75 playing days of bilateral cricket across formats in a year, barring IPL and ICC events’ months.
If the latest unimpressive rise in bilateral media rights value – at ₹68 crore per match, it rose by 13 % – is anything to go by, there’s a lot of soul-searching to do for the Indian cricket board. Making the cream of its cricketers available for bilateral cricket more frequently, in consultation with the selectors and the senior playing group may be a good way to start.
The exercise, however, will not be worthwhile unless more thought is given to identify the right venues for each series, each format, and greater fan engagement efforts are made. Bilateral cricket may not grow at the same speed as IPL, but the time-tested nation-versus- nation rivalry can do with more care for the sake of Indian cricket and its stakeholders.
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