Preserving Test Cricket: Just reduce the number of games

Future of cricket is one of the hot topics being discussed in almost all cricketing forums. People are wondering if Test Cricket will survive, will ODIs be the scrape goat, will city versus city be the order of the day in the future. Gaurav Kalra, CNN IBN sports editor had come to Amrita University for a TEDx talk. He believes that ODI cricket would eventually die leaving only two formats of the game: one the limited overs and the other unlimited overs. He also favored bringing in various innovations to spice up the longer version of the game. 

All the cricket purists and the lovers of the game are really concerned about preserving Test Match cricket. There has been a lot of talk by various experts including Gaurav Kalra in his TEDx talk about getting night cricket, cricket with pink balls, tweaking with the format etc. to draw crowds. I will make bold statement here. I believe that all these innovations would play a very small role in increasing the following of the game. It may result in a sudden rise in viewership, but soon games with these innovations would become a routine and the viewership would be back to square one.

Getting a ticket for a match at the Eden Gardens was a prestige issue

Eden with empty seats was unheard of. Signs of spectator-burnout 

I am a firm believer that cricket viewership (at least in India) has gone down recently not because, the fan now finds the game boring or finds less spice in the game. I am also convinced that modern day test cricket has all the required spice to pull crowds.  The viewership has gone down for the simple reason that the fan now has had just too much of cricket. I have been an avid cricket follower for the past 12-14 years. Let me rewind my cricket viewing days to around 5 to 10 years back. Despite the fact that it was still a busy cricketing schedule, there were relatively long breaks in between the series. When an ardent follower of the game picked up the itinerary, one could see that there would have been a 2 to 3 month game before India played their next test or ODI. Since nations did not play each other as often as they do now, it created an excitement and the wait for the series. There used to be a long build up to the tournament. There would be pre-tournament air flowing. The devoted fans would be discussing the squad and playing XI weeks before the first ball was bowled. As the moment arrived every ardent follower switched on his/her TV sets with excitement to view the game. Since there was so much talk about the game before it was played getting a match ticket was a prestige. Thus, almost every game was played in front of a full house. 

Now things have changed dramatically. We get cricket almost everyday. Let me just go through the year 2011. India had an extra-ordinary World Cup.The fact that India had actually won the WC had barely sunk in that the IPL began. This IPL thus was not an event which the Indian fan had waited for. There were no discussions even among the devoted fans about this event. There was no time for all that to happen. Fans were still busy savoring the World Cup success that they were dumped in with the IPL.  So, the IPL just came and went. It met with a cold response. India then flew to West Indies for a low-key series and right after that we went to England. We got battered in England and as we came back, England came to India to play a 5 day ODI tournament. Then West Indies came to India to play 3 tests and 5 ODIs. Just as this tournament concluded, India flew to Australia and they are still there.That is how jam-packed the schedule is. None of these tournaments had a build up which could transform into a better viewership. Everything happened so fast that the fan barely remembers what happened in a series 2 months back.

There were concerns raised when the Eden Gardens was not even half full for an India West Indies test match. It really did not surprise me. It was the second time India were playing a series against West Indies in the same year. How could this excite anyone to turn up. There were concerns about low crowds in the India England ODIs. In India, ODIs were always a sell-out. Again empty stands this time around did not surprise me. Why would a fan invest his time to see India play again right after he has seen them play against the same opponents for 2 months.

The ongoing India-Australia games have had good following and viewership. Despite the schedule being packed, this was a marquee series and everyone was waiting for it. The hype of the Boxing-Day test match and the fact that this was being considered one chance for India to win down under (Though it is ironical that India were thrashed). If cricket was not played that often, every series would have had a similar hype. Every series and game would have a meaning and a context associated with it. It is essential in the interest of the game that tournaments which do not have much context like the West-Indies tour of India or the India-England ODI tournament are weeded out.

There is a deluge of cricket matches and so much so that, one could almost loose a track of which tournament is currently going on. After watching 100 matches in a year it is really hard for the fan to get excited about the 101st match. When there is so much cricket going on the stakes associated with each game go also down considerably, which contributes to the poor following of the game. Spectators want to watch a game which has a high value associated with it. They want to view a series where the stakes are high. When the game comes everyday fans simply looses interest in it.

I remember the wait that always preceded these big tours like that of Australia or England a few years back. It was this wait for the tournaments to begin that made them special. But, now we do not have any time to wait.  The entire year is so packed with cricket matches that the fan is never starved for the game. Fans need to be starved for cricket before they actually fed with it. That is will make the game special so that he can savor it. As it is with great cuisines, if they are eaten everyday they loose their charm. No matter what innovations you bring in, if you keep having the same thing it eventually becomes boring. What we need is giving a long breaks between tournaments. There needs to be a dry spell with no cricket at all. The fatigue concerns not just the players but the spectators as well and if the trend continues it may well result in a spectator burn-out. 

Any opinions, disagreements, comments etc. are welcome.