Turnaround Steps
Apathy threatens Tests바카라”the playground of cricketing glory. But the tide can be turned.
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The committee observed that while certain series like the Ashes attract crowds, the symptoms of death are more pronounced in lower-ranked countries. But this observation is true for even a high-ranked nation like India, which regards itself as the spiritual home of the game. So, when Sachin Tendulkar got the 11,954th Test run of his career to break Brian Lara바카라™s record, there were only isolated clots of spectators in the Mohali stadium last year. When India beat Australia in a terrific battle of wits in Nagpur, and Sourav Ganguly walked away from Test cricket, there were fewer people present. Crowds have been better at traditional Test centres like Chennai and Calcutta, but the decline in the numbers over the years is palpable.
Sometimes, it seems that the cricket associations aren바카라™t too keen to fill the stands. Before the Test against Australia in Nagpur last November, this correspondent met a UK national of Indian origin who had been going around in circles trying to buy tickets. They weren바카라™t available online, nor in the city. He went to the stadium바카라”located 18 km out of the city바카라”to discover there was no ticket office in the grand new facility. Directed to a roadside shack, he was told he couldn바카라™t buy the tickets with a credit card. 바카라śI wanted several high-end tickets바카라”I can바카라™t be expected to carry around lakhs of rupees,바카라ť he grumbled. A month later in Mohali, a bunch of England fans was mystified by the absence of the ticket office. No one seemed keen on their watching the match, even though officials ferried children to the ground from towns across Punjab so that the stands would not be shamefully bare.
This indifference to the paying spectator isn바카라™t incidental. 바카라śA state association would get some Rs 15 crore from the BCCI as an annual grant,바카라ť an official told Outlook. 바카라śGetting more people to watch the game only means there would be the difficulty of managing the crowds. So, no one frets if there are no crowds.바카라ť You get the money from the BCCI anyway.
Perhaps this is also the reason Test cricket in India hardly gets marketed. Those who venture to the games are left to bake in the sun, corralled in barricaded stands. 바카라śAbroad, it바카라™s much more fun바카라”it바카라™s like a picnic, you can get your own food and have a nice time,바카라ť says Javed Miandad, the former Pakistan captain. 바카라śBut the administrators in this part of the world aren바카라™t bothered about the cricket and the fans, they care only for the money.바카라ť
In the absence of marketing, wouldn바카라™t it be better to hold Test matches only in centres that pull in crowds, like Calcutta and Mumbai? Ramachandra Guha, historian and avowed purist, told Outlook, 바카라śThat was amazing...Australia vs India was a grudge series, and you hold a match in Nagpur, 18 km outside the city, and there바카라™s no transport! Bangalore had fairly adequate crowds of 8-10 thousand.... It likely is due to Bangalore having this culture of appreciating Test cricket, as do Calcutta, Chennai, Mumbai.바카라ť But even the audience of 8-10 thousand is dismal compared with the heaving, surging stadiums of past.
There바카라™s also politics to countenance바카라”matches are allotted by turn and often, critics say, with prejudice. An official of the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) complains there are few matches in Calcutta, which has always drawn huge crowds for Tests, because the CAB is headed by Jagmohan Dalmiya, who바카라™s daggers drawn with the current BCCI czars. Empty new stadiums, destitute of ambience, can hardly be expected to generate interest in the classic format of the game for those in their early teens.
Also, many grounds lack competitive wickets, turning the matches either one-sided or excruciatingly boring바카라”thus killing the appetite for Tests. Former captain Dilip Vengsarkar regrets that the icc hasn바카라™t yet thought it wise to improve the quality of playing tracks. 바카라śIt바카라™s such an important point, and it바카라™s not been addressed바카라”simply amazing,바카라ť he told Outlook. Add to this the lure of easy money. As Vengsarkar points out, 바카라śIf players opt for T20 over Tests at age 31-32, like Andrew Flintoff has done, or as Andrew Symonds and Chris Gayle could do, then it바카라™s a concern. These are among the best players in the world.바카라ť
He insists money can바카라™t be allowed to undermine the primacy of Tests. 바카라śTest cricket is the heart of cricket. It바카라™s important that Test cricket should provide cricketers for one-dayers and T20, it can바카라™t be the other way round,바카라ť Vengsarkar says. 바카라śT20 players can바카라™t play Tests; some of them can바카라™t even play 50-over ODIs. It바카라™s impossible to argue with money and stardom. Since from some T20 games a player can earn five times the money he makes for a Test match, players, right from early teens, need to be educated that Tests are supreme, and no amount of money must be allowed to let their motivation fall,바카라ť he adds. Agrees Miandad: 바카라śIt바카라™s all right to make money from T20. Every cricketer knows T20 is easy, with practically no accountability. But the boards have a larger responsibility to save Test cricket.바카라ť
Those who love Test cricket are surprised that players perform in empty stadiums in India. 바카라śI바카라™m deeply disappointed that Indians seem to have turned their backs on Test cricket in favour of the stunted form of the game,바카라ť muses veteran cricket writer David Frith. 바카라śI바카라™d always thought they were thoughtful and meditative people, always ready to appreciate feats of concentration and stamina. But it seems there would be no applause for a Mankad or a Hazare these days. I바카라™m at a loss to explain.바카라ť
To save Test cricket in these very commercial times, audiences must be made an interested party바카라”their interest should be the joy, and the abiding memory of it, that only the unique tension of a great Test contest can provide. The BCCI must try to facilitate just that.