I AM a little worried. The crass commoditisation of cricket makes me fearful about the game and the people who play and watch it. Cricket junkies like me can also be afflicted by an overdose. You can argue that if it hasn’t happened in so many years, why should it happen now? Here’s a thing – it is called T20 and its tentacles are quickly enveloping the rest of the formats. The officials are only partly to blame, their nexus with broadcasters and marketers is a more dangerous trend. A very unhealthy offshoot.
Only the other day, new ICC boss (starting July) Haroon Lorgat expressing concern on the same lines asked for greater ring fencing of the T20 game from the rest of the formats. An overkill could be extremely damaging for the game’s wider health and appeal. A farcical World Cup (50 over) final in the West Indies has not exactly endeared many to the longer abbreviated version. Ticket prices ensured that too many people didn’t embrace the World Cup in the Caribbean. A batting powerplay may have induced some kinetic energy into the 50 over format, but for most part, the T20 game is busy emerging as an easily consumable option than the rest of the versions for sheer thrills and spills.
Cricket is big business particularly in India. In fact, cricket and commerce are now intertwined. Marketers and broadcasters have realised the enormous reach and potential of the game in a land which abounds with savants. What the IPL did was take this commoditisation to another level in India. It provided the marketers, advertisers and broadcasters a spanking new platform. Coming on the heels of the remarkable but unexpected victory of the neophyte laden Indian side in the T20 World Cup in South Africa and the Commonwealth Bank 50 over tri series in Australia, the IPL was like a conjuror’s trick introduced into the year long cricket whirligig. It captured everyone’s imagination and introduced the game to new audiences.
Both as a spectator sport and a television event, the timing was perfect. The family began to track the players and matches, the wins and defeats, the highs and lows. The city based franchise model, never seen in India till the IPL actually managed a connect with audience mind space.
Sponsors came in droves. A player auction with dollars being thrown about meant a new benchmark in global sport. In no sport anywhere in the world, does a player auction take place. Not in the English Premier League, not in the NBA, neither in the NFL or the NHL. Yes, multi-million dollar transfers have been taking place, but international players going under the gavel is an unheard of phenomenon. The audience responds to changes, in fact it embraces them quickly. The IPL and other 20:20 games have shown that cricket’s most condensed version is the way to go for all stakeholders in terms of revenues. But the rapid and rabid commoditisation is an all pervasive reality.
Look at the formatting – international stars finished with a 37 day IPL and are now in UK to play the T20 World Cup. India for instance finishes with the 20:20 WC and heads for West Indies to play four one day matches. Come September, they will head back to SA to participate in the Champions Trophy. Return to India and find themselves slapbang in the middle of the T20 Champions League where three Indian sides will be playing – Deccan Chargers, Royal Challengers and Delhi Daredevils with a fair share of international Indian stars. And before you can say Jack Robinson, the Aussies will be here for a seven match one day slugfest, followed by a full series against Sri Lanka and South Africa, interspersed with a tour to Bangladesh.
I liked what Indian captain Dhoni said the other day – if you are playing for India, then player fatigue is a way of life. Fact, for if one remembers, Dhoni himself took a break when India toured Sri Lanka last year. He did not play the three Test matches due to the same fatigue factor.
The good thing is that there are a lot of very young Indian players in the mix, but you can easily break the back of some of these youth by making them play incessantly. Look at Ishant Sharma, he was totally out of sorts in the IPL. While that could be partly attributed to his team Knight Riders and their shenanigans, he certainly looked like a bowler who wanted to rest his feet. When Srinath and Vekatesh Prasad were run into the ground as bowlers, India had to summon Abey Kuruvilla, David Johnson, Doda Ganesh and the like. This surfeit of T 20 cricket while great news for the board and its allied stakeholders may well sound the death knell of the game in India. The India versus Australia Test series, a blue riband event was played in front of empty stands late last year. That was a warning bell. The cricket board should have woken up and smelt the coffee.
The importance of money is crucial in every walk of life. But the spectre of overdose and overkill is a cause of concern. Cricketers need to be given a break. Yes. But the game needs to retain its lustre by appearing sparingly in front of spectators. When Jagmohan Dalmiya and Inderjit Singh Bindra were a combine and the cricket board began its tryst with commerce, they too treaded the same primrose path. The crowds dwindled and better sense prevailed. After the 1983 World Cup victory, it became a norm to stage seven one day matches in a series. Tourneys like MRF World Series et al were architected in this mad rush for moolah.
It is good that the game’s administrators and leading lights like Lorgat and Dhoni repsectively have made a mention of this overkill. If the hoi polloi around the world takes a shine to T 20 completely, then it will force the administrators to give the consumers what they want.
Ring fence the other formats from a surfeit of 20 over cricket or it will kill the sport. Cricket hasn’t died despite its long and arduous journey. It has survived everything thrown at it including Kerry Packer’s World Series, but 20:20 cricket is the greatest clear and present danger to its future. For consumers ultimately decide what they want to consume because they are the end users. Let us hope that our administrators don’t fall prey to this temptation.
