Test cricket’s decline in India
Kesavan is one of my favorite cricket writers. I recommend his new blog and am looking forward to his new book (Men in White). I almost always find myself nodding to whatever Kesavan says. Here too, it is no different and I firmly believe he is right. My thoughts are similar on this and has been for quite a while.
Kesavan says in his latest piece, slow death of Indian cricket:
Most of my son’s classmates find greater pleasure in watching Thierry Henry, a Frenchman who captains a London club, Arsenal, than in watching Rahul Dravid turn out for India. The boys in his class who aren’t fixated on Arsenal are obsessed with Manchester United and someone called Rooney who looks worryingly like an Eighties model skinhead. I could be wrong, my sample could be too small, but I think we’re seeing a shift in the sporting culture of metropolitan Indian schoolboys of a particular class. They’re seceding from international cricket and offering their enthusiasm and loyalty to English league football.
Cricket is no longer the holy sport it once was. We had a half empty stadium at Eden Gardens for India-Windies, even India-South Africa. Cricket has competition now from football not just in the form of EPL but nationally as well. Zee Sports are doing a great job of broadcasting football and there are some very positive steps being taken for the development of the game. Football has strong roots in the country (Bagan-East Bengal sees crowds of over 1,00,000, Goa-Bengal rivalry in the sport is strong) and I do see India improving in due course - upon which the popularity will soar. Then, there are other sports which are being marketed in innovative styles - hockey in the form of PHL, chess is ever so strong among a section and shooting is gaining in profile every day.
A very significant factor is that it is impractical to follow 5 days of test cricket. If some one has 35 hours of free time in a week, he will much rather go on a holiday than sit in front of the tv. Cricket is still a spoilt son because it enjoys monopoly but I see genuine competition because of football - signs of which we are already seeing.
It isn’t a death for Indian cricket though the way I look at it. It is competition which is always a good thing because competition improves standards and gives people kicks in the backs like little else can manage to. Test cricket though it seems, is losing out and will lose out further in this fast paced world - some thing which did not seem to effect the crowds 10 years ago in Indian grounds. As a lover of test cricket and a fellow cricket tragic, I do moan the slow death as well.
Tags: Indian Cricket, Indian Football.
February 4th, 2007 at 9:58 pm
It is sad to be reminded of these developments. However I would like to share a silver lining: Nimbus & BCCI are planning to promote domestic cricket in a big way in coming seasons. And I am very hopeful since I heard that. Coz’ if that is done then it should have a cascading effect.
Initially a few more people will start watching these matches because of better coverages (Today’s Ranji final got you involved in it unlike some previous coverages from a few near-static cameras without no close ups) and when our domestic matches, at least some of them, start whipping up viewerships and followings they will turn into pressure games.
This should lead to higher quality of sport and entertainment, leading to still higher viewership - and this would mean we will produce quality players who are ready for the quality and pressure on offer in Test matches. In the process Test cricket will regain popularity.
Iinterest simply HAS to reach the grassroots (or thereabouts). And Duleep Trophy - offering many international quality players - should be the first step. But let us first see these ‘plans’ taking shape before dreaming too far ahead.
I had ranted lengthily on this quite sometime back - when Sourav Ganguly used to be a ‘batting allrounder’: http://blogs.cricinfo.com/different_strokes/archives/2005/12/marketing_first.php
February 5th, 2007 at 5:28 pm
There has always been great potential to market first class cricket in India. I have always been thirsty to watch it and have had millions of ideas on how we can attract more people to the game over the years.
This is the first men that matter in Indian cricket (BCCI) who seem to seem the immense potential that is first class cricket. I watched the Irani Trophy game and NEO did broadcast quite a few games this year. The problem with NEO has been that it has not been accessible to every one having cable yet but hopefully that will be resolved in due course.
With Twenty20 in Indian domestic cricket, I am sure we will have more crowds and the tv coverage with NEO seems promising right now and I am optimistic about it. Though the initial signs regarding this in the past year or so have been of slow progress and could discourage a few fans, I am very optimistic about the BCCI regarding domestic cricket as well.
The BCCI making sure that the best XI’s and top stars play the Ranji Trophy final this season certainly brought back at least some credibility to the trophy. Hopefully, we can replicate the days of the Pentangular when crowds used to flock to domestic cricket.
This is why I said that competition can give people a much needed kick in the back side. Though full stadiums cannot be expected in domestic FC matches, more interest can always be generated and we can have crowds for some thing like Twenty20 (domestic) like they have had in Pakistan.