Is Cricket heading in the right direction?
Be it a game or a country, the way it is managed is a reflection of the society. The quick-to-retort and intolerant mindset is on the rise in cricket as a result of the turns the society has taken over the last few years.
You can kid about something and be fined a huge sum for it (remember Chris Gayle's “Don’t blush baby”?).
Cricket has seen a gradual downfall in reputation. And this is not only due to the match-fixing scandals that have been nabbed over the last few years. The overdose of unnecessary drama off the field, the even more unnecessary exaggeration and magnification of the same and the power battles at the top management levels have distracted the fans from simply enjoying the events on the field.
The innocent happiness on watching an exciting match is becoming distant, for the chances that the next day’s headlines would have some controversy relating to the match, is on a steep rise. All these force us to rewind back to the golden days.
Back in the late 1990s and the early 2000s, Cricket saw a bright light like it never did for the past century, at least. In 1995, late Jagmohan Dalmiya, former ICC and BCCI President, created a huge wave by convincing the ICC panel to choose the Indian sub-continent to host the 1996 World Cup, over the mighty English.
This incident was the first David-Goliath story for years to come, with The Times describing the victory as, “Asian tiger twists Lord’s by the tail”.
Of course, cricket’s growth took a major hit owing to several match-fixing scandals in the period 1997-2000. Having said that, cricket continued to expand as the situation was beautifully handled by ICC and the cricket boards.
More and more events were put in place to promote cricket to unknown territories.
The dilemma of Associate Nations
Associate nations were provided with more opportunities to showcase their talent and gain experience by introducing the ICC Intercontinental Cup in 2004. The base shifted from Australia and England to cater to the global market. FTP schedules provided optimal entertainment for fans and enough rest for the players.
Associate teams that upset Full Member nations in ICC tournaments were promoted to that status as well. A minnow team back then, Bangladesh was provided the necessary confidence from ICC by giving them the Test status. Champions Trophy, World T20 and contemplation over a Test Championship- life was all good for the cricket fan.
Today, we are left to search for a small piece of gold in a pile of dust. Yes, the cricket around the world is as exciting as it can get, both club and international. Yes, innovation has taken a central role in the game with new players cropping up everyday to provide something new to the game.
What about all the drama off field? If the words “growth”, “progress”, “support”, “expansion” and “administration” were associated with the 90s and 2000s, “power”, “stress”, “control”, “intolerance” and “manipulation” can be associated with today’s game.
Even a global game like football is looking to expand with FIFA contemplating on increasing the number of participating teams in the next World Cup. But a game that is yet to reach almost two entire continents has chosen to reduce the participating teams in the upcoming 50-over World Cup.
The performance of Afghanistan in the recent World T20 has shown how wrong this move is. By cornering Associate Nations and isolating them from the global stage, depriving them of both performance and possible future revenue, all the efforts that had been taken for over two decades to expand the game is slowly vanishing.
Shortcomings of the Cricket boards
The prolonged issues between West Indies Cricket Board and the players’ association is no brand new information anymore. Back in 2009, Dwayne Bravo, one of the stalwarts of West Indies cricket, was left to support himself for rehabilitation after undergoing surgery on an injured knee.
But all said and done, one can’t deny the siege mentality of the players as well, which was evident when they took such offense to a small statement that Mark Nicholas wrote in a pretty big article.
Over the years, BCCI has become the most influential cricket board in the world. Such is the influence that despite approval of the DRS from all other cricketing nations, their stand against it forced the ICC to make it optional for India. When Shashank Manohar took over from late Jagmohan Dalmiya in 2014, many promises were made.
Ranji Trophy has now accommodated more teams to give a fairer chance to the smaller state associations. IPL and ICC tournaments are a source of big revenue for the stadiums that host the games and in turn, the respective state associations.
For the same reason and to promote the grand tournament in non-participating states, matches were held in places like Dharamsala and Pune.
With the suspension of Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals, fans in the two states would naturally lose part of their interest towards the tournament. But sadly, absolutely nothing has been done to address these fans. To such an extent are these cricket fans ignored that these two stadiums are yet to be even considered as options when forced to move games from Maharashtra.
Isolating Chepauk from the international picture would result in losses to TNCA which would mean lesser to provide for the Tamil Nadu players in all age groups, divisions and classes.
With two stands still facing some problems at Chepauk, holding a couple of games here would reduce BCCI’s and IPL’s profit by 2 games out of 59. But that would increase the revenue of TNCA by 2 games from none.
Speaking of revenues and losses, the ICC Position Paper, written by Lord Woolf reflects the thumping impact that the Big Three (Australia, England and India) have on the cricketing world. Prepared under the governance of the three boards, the proposed revenue model suggested that BCCI, ECB and CA get more than twice the revenue shares whereas the other boards get lesser than half the revenue shares in comparison to the existing model.
Also the fact that the paper suggested that the Big Three will have permanent representation in an ICC Executive Committee that holds the key vote on almost all issues, shows the thirst for power over the carcass of the other boards.
The Harsha Bhogle saga
Ask any aspiring cricket commentator or analyst in the sub-continent (probably even the world) about their inspiration, Harsha Bhogle would definitely be around the top of the lists. Such is the respect that this 54-year old skinny, ever-smiling and simple man has earned over his 30-year long, flaunting career.
The best representative of the cricket fan has now been barred from a duty that he had performed with utmost splendour. What is more appalling is the fact that he wasn’t intimated about his termination from covering the IPL.
Commentators have to sign a contract, agreeing to certain constraints, to be able to do their job for Indian matches. A commentator should not discuss team selection, DRS or any administrative matters. Harsha, not being the first to face heat from the board is not really surprising.
Arun Lal in 2012, Sanjay Manjrekar, Danny Morrison and HD Ackerman in 2013 had their contracts terminated for not abiding by these appalling constraints. Ian Chappell, also in 2013, refused to sign the contract at all.
However, what makes this case special is that Harsha has always kept himself politically correct and the exact reason for his termination is unclear as of now.
Conclusion
Despite the increasing excitement on the field, the cricket fan would definitely be hurt by the complications off it. The cricket fan would love to see more teams competing on the best stage, for nothing thrills more than an upset.
A person new to the cricketing world will get to know the nuances of the game only through the voice of commentators and the pens of sports journalists. Restraining their words will cartwheel to produce a generation of cricket fans who may not be in the know of how the game functions.
By not expanding the game across the globe, we run the risk of making the cricketing world, a closed space. Cricket and the cricket fan should be given preference, for without one, the other would lose all meaning.
All cricketing boards and the ICC need to rethink about the direction they are heading and look to make amends before further damage starts driving current and possible future fans away. It is time for the think-tanks to decide which way to go – control or assurance or the untrodden middle.