The Circus called Cricket

The 2nd T20 World championship ended today. A Few days ago the extravaganza of IPL was unleashed in SA. Meanwhile, the countdown of Champions League has already begun. Three major international tournaments in a span of 4 months, but all in the shortest form of the game!

T20 came into existence with an intension to globalize the game. The shorter form requires less patience and dedication from a spectator. It was used to promote the game. Along with it came the additives and gradually ... more additions.

1st time when I saw a T20 telecast the player used to mention his favourite music in his introduction. Now why does anyone want to know which music he likes to listen when the player is actually coming in the centre to perform a duty towards his team?

As time passed by one could listen to the track played by some DJ in between overs or random breaks. These were followed by Dancing Cheer girls. The 2nd edition of IPL introduced strategy breaks just to allow a few more commercials to the television broadcasters.

It was so obvious that these strategy breaks were disturbing the flow of the game. It was like having a signal crossing on a F1 track. As a professional you got to adjust to these playing conditions, OK, I agree, But is it really necessary to have these interruption between a cricket match?

The worst thing that struck me was in the currently concluded T20 championship.
Before the match between India and WI, just after the toss, some random guy was asked to ball to DILIP VENGASARKAR on the pitch that was to be used for the match. To my surprise, none of the two were in their proper cricketing attire and all these at a place known as “THE LORDS”. I don’t need to explain how insulting that looked. Some random guy bowling to a man who has a record of scoring 3 centuries at the home of cricket!! He got the chance just cos he gulped a bottle of cola !!

I wonder what is all this going on? Do people come to the ground to see half dressed girls dancing? Or to let their hair loose when the DJ plays their favourite number? How can someone come in and use the match wicket just like that before the match?

I remember a day when we were playing at the POONA CLUB. The news spread that CHANDU BORDE, the then national selector, was present in his office at the Club House and watching us. We made sure that we were in the purest of whites when we entered the ground. Even our pull-over were not allowed. This was the level of discipline we follow when we play a normal club game at the POONA CLUB. And here we are talking about THE LORDS where the Englishmen love to preserve their heritage.

If all this is in search of Money then I would prefer the game to be poor than pure. But if it is just to attract attention then I am sorry…. This is the last way we should draw attention towards the game. People who want to watch DJ’s and Cheer Girls should not be on the cricket ground, whatsoever. Different places exist where one can enjoy such things. Those who get to perform on the main pitch must be the one really deserving candidate. I don’t think bottle full of cola under some lucky crown is worth a chance to make it to the centre.

I think this is killing the game more rapidly than ever before. Forget about the overload that cricketers have to go through for all this.

After making a presentation about his road trip to LADAKH, one of my friend was asked if you get liquor there… He answered in a simple sentence … If you need liquor, you need not go there.

I hope the governing body of the game understands these things. The sooner the better.
Meanwhile I am waiting for the series between India and WI and the old rivalry between England and Australia in THE ASHES. This time .. even more desperately …