THERE HAS been much talk about how there is no crowd interest for Test cricket in India.
This is an absolutely wrong assessment of the situation in the country.
There is a lot of interest in the Test match format. But it is just the lack of infrastructure for the paying fan that keeps them away from going to the ground.
You can still afford to brave the odds and sit in the stands for a one-dayer or a Twenty20. But for a Test match, you can’t.
People have modes of keeping in touch with a Test match score. Twitter, internet, radio or even TV.
But a ground a is no-go area for an Indian cricket fan.
Why? Just look at our grounds. We behave as if our spectators are caged animals. As Sunil Gavaskar keeps saying there is no roof for a fan to sit and get themselves saved from the heat.
Plus there are security restrictions for a fan getting into the ground. He cannot get a bag, water, telephone or food to eat.
Then there is the onerous task of getting into a ground. Security measures mean that the fans have to get in three hours before start of play.
Why would you want to go through this torture as a fan?
Then there is the small task of travelling to a ground. In Mohali, Ahmedabad, Nagpur for example the grounds are outside the centre of the city.
Would anyone seriously be interested in travelling 25-30 kilometres to go through the torture that an Indian fan goes through?
No, that will not happen. Hence you see no crowds at the ground.
The BCCI does not help matters by its scheduling of Test matches.
Can we really expect crowds for a Test match that starts on a Sunday or a Monday?
When the match enters the climatic phase it is bang in the middle of a working week. Which employer would be willing to let his/her employee go away to watch a Test match.
See the current India vs West Indies series, the second Test starts on a Monday and the third on a Tuesday.
Who draws up these schedules?
In every other corner of the world, the cricket boards ensure that the Test match starts on a Thursday, which means that the climax of the match is on a weekend.
Then the other plus point in England or Australia or even South Africa is the excellent facilities for a fan to enjoy the Test match.
The fan in these countries looks forward to the experience of viewing a Test match. The security is also not a hassle.
This also brings us back to the basic point about how the state associations use the BCCI subsidy to build stadiums. Then there is also the money that the states make from TV revenues.
There needs to be an audit of where this money is utilised or whether it is utilised at all.
In India there is an absolute federal structure in the way cricket is run. The BCCI has given state associations the mandate to conduct the game the way they see fit.
The time has now come for this to change.
Till this does not happen, the state associations will continue to have a free run and short change the fans.
The BCCI makes all its money from TV and title sponsor. The gate receipts are the revenue of the state associations. If the states don’t pull up their socks then they will be the losers in the bargain.
But then again even the states make money from the BCCI subsidies.
So is the fan in the stand really in the picture?
Till the situation does not improve, fans are better off watching it live on BCCI’s website or even better keep a track on radio.
For everyone else there is always twitter.
