Our Life, Our Times :: 38 :: The Cricket World Cup and its bizarre rules

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England skipper Eoin Morgan with the coveted trophy

I think Gautam Gambhir is right; it is indeed an idiotic rule to award a match to a side on the basis of number of boundaries hit by it. In the case of the Final World Cup 2019 cricket match the very situation at the end of the match indicated that England was no better than the New Zealand team as the latter had equaled the total score piled up by the former with a lesser number of boundaries. That shows the proficiency of the team. It is the number of runs that win matches and not the number of boundaries hit by a side. Boundaries after all help to build up a total and they can be scored on account of any number of reasons, like patchy fielding or presence of a pinch hitter in the opposition and so on. Capability of hitting boundaries cannot be the criterion for judging a winner. To that extent I feel that the rules, if they prescribe a winner on the basis of the number of boundaries hit by a team, are bizarre and verging on being ridiculous.

In fact, I find the New Zealand team fared better on two counts. One I have already indicated above, i.e. it scored equal number of runs without as many boundaries as scored by England. It also fared better than England in equaling the total set by it losing lesser number of wickets. Which total is better: 240 for 10 wickets or 240 for 8 wickets? Obviously the latter! Hence the winner should have been the New Zealand team - not the English team. The question of a tie, therefore, did not arise. It could have been a tie had both the teams scored the same number of runs for the loss of the same number of wickets.

The result announced perhaps cannot be changed now but the ICC should sit down and think about it to make the rules more rational and logical. Damage has been done this time to the New Zealanders. It needs to be ensured that no other team suffers the same fate as New Zealand in future.

*Photo from internet

Our Life , Our Times :: 11 :: Cricket in heavily polluted Delhi

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Sri Lankan players durin a disrupted session

I think it was surely the first time ever that a cricket test match was being played anywhere in the world in very poor light and poor quality of air. The test match was being played in Delhi between Sri Lankan and Indian cricket teams. It is the third and final Test that was being played in heavily polluted air of the Capital. 

Quite a few Sri Lankans came out to field on the second morning wearing facemasks. Later there were interruptions because some of the substitute Lankan fielders refused to come out and field in the polluted environment. Perhaps they were right because the Central Pollution Control Board described the air quality in the area as “very poor”. Prolonged exposure to such air could lead to respiratory ailments. The most dominant harmful pollutants were deadly PM 2.5 and PM 10 which were at very elevated levels from the safe levels of 60 and 100, respectively.

With Lankans taking a serious view of the poor air quality one wondered whether the play would continue on the third day and thereafter with no expectations of the smog lifting up anytime soon. And yet the play commenced on the third day in heavy smog with poor visibility. The paying audience of the game got a raw deal with even the telecast of the match showed how poor the visibility was.

The media cried blue murder blaming Sri Lankans for depriving Kohli of a score of 300 or more. Also, the media story was that Kohli, having been exasperated by the interruptions lost his rhythm and was soon given out lbw. It was also speculated that Kohli declared the innings even as discussions were being held for continuance of the play only to show that Indians would readily field in the same environmental conditions which the Sri Lankans found unplayable.

With the smog prevailing over Delhi for weeks now, perhaps, it was not a good idea for the BCCI to have scheduled a test match in Delhi during this period. While the expectation was that the smog would lift by the end of November and this kind of overbearing pollution would not be sustained for long, the things panned out differently with the smog persisting.

 The stubble burning in the neighbouring agricultural fields is the main reason for the heavy pollution of the Delhi air. The Delhi-ites have had so far the worst of two winters. Making the international players play in such heavily  polluted air would amount to playing with their health and wellbeing as also their cricketing careers. Even the Australian Cricket Team had issues with this kind of air in and around the Stadium a few years ago.

One cannot but have sympathies for Delhi-ites who are riding out over this kind of smog for days, weeks and months in Delhi. There seems to be no respite from it. It is like a gas chamber out there and respite for those who are suffering appears to be far away.

Cricket has always been a winter game in India. Only because of the professional leagues of the shortened versions of the game it is played in summers – mostly after sunset. But from the look of it, it is increasingly becoming clear that the game, especially the longer version of it, may not continue during the winters in the northern parts because of heavy smog with air pollution rising by the day. One cannot really put air purifiers on the ground to enable the game to go on.

 There are numerous towns in south, central and western India where the air quality is within the normal parameters and where adequate arrangements exist for holding a five-day test match. If these centres are not properly equipped they should be refurbished to make available alternative venues in case the traditional venues, especially in metro cities suffer from debilitating environmental sicknesses.

4th December 2017

*Photo from internet

Missing the gold at Lords' and yet ...

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Skipper Mithali Raj leads the team back to pavillion

It was just phenomenal. That the Indian women’s cricket team would be playing before a sell-out crowd at Lords’ in England at the Finals of the World Cup 2017, was really nothing short of a phenomenon. Though cruising well on the way to victory, the young team seemed to have come under the grip of nerves only to collapse within sniffing distance of a well-deserved victory. But, for this match winning or losing was not an issue. It was enough for their countrymen to savour and celebrate their entry into the finals after some very good cricket that they played.

There were sterling performances at the match by at least three of its members, Poonum Raut and Harmanpreet Singh with the bat and in the bowling department the old campaigner, Jhoolan Goswami, returned commendable figures accounting for three of the English ladies. The skipper, Mithali Raj, a consistent scorer, was unfortunately run out when only on 17 held back as she was by her spikes that dug into the ground while running a single. Despite a seeming collapse, contest-wise it was a close and thrilling finish.

It was a queer quirk of fate that the team lost to England in the Finals, a team which it had defeated in an earlier face-off. Likewise, it rode into the finals over a convincing win over Australia against which it had lost in a preliminary round. Obviously the team progressively raised the level of its performance during the tournament that took it to the finals for the second time but after a hiatus of more than a decade. A number of centuries were scored at the tournament, including an undefeated swashbuckling one of 171 (not out) off only 115 deliveries by Harmanpreet Singh in the semi-final that received appreciation from the world over and eventually saw her being included in the team of International Cricket Council.

Led by example by a consummate batswoman, Mithali Raj, the team was not expected to do so well in the tournament as it did. But Mithali herself scored 408 runs in this edition of the World Cup, only one run short of the highest scorer from the English side. She, however, went on to top the scoring charts by crossing the 6000 mark in Women’s Cricket, the highest ever by a woman. That was an individual accomplishment as it was indeed of her tall team mate, Jhoolan Goswami, who stood out with the figures of a total of 36 wickets – at the third position among the bowlers. Her 3 in the finals for 23 had almost snatched the match away from England

Goswami stated after the match that none of the cricketers had ever thought that the team would reach the finals. They knew it was underprepared and against seasoned campaigners they would be up against difficult and frustrating contests. But as the tournament progressed things started looking up. Smriti Mandhana who missed a century in the first match scoring 90 helped to win it against England. She showed great poise against a tougher team consistently lofted the ball to fly over close-in power-play fielders, That she did not do as well in subsequent matches was a surprise, Then Poonum Raut was in sublime form scoring a century. As expected Mithali Raj too chipped in with healthy scores including a hundred. It was the scintillating innings of Harmanpreet Singh against the Australians in the semifinals that captivated the supporters back home. The media literally went wild giving extensive coverage with photographs in print media. Harmanpreet’s innings was being likened to those of Sehwag in his hey days. Her 171 n.o with 20 fours and seven sixes was what sent supporters rooting for her. Incidentally, one never imagined that women cricketers could hit sixes. Hermanpreet had hit one at Sydney while playing in a professional league match that made the Australians to check her for any drug and her bat for some mysterious power.

Despite the fact that they lost the trophy, the team’s performance at the run up to the finals made them celebrities. Never before did women’s cricket was followed in the way it was this time and never before did women cricketers become the objects of such adoration. Receptions and celebrations followed on their return and the team members were lionized and feted all the way.  What was more remarkable was Mithali being named the skipper of the International Cricket Council team because of her cricketing qualities. Two more girls, Harmanpreet Singh and Deepti Sharma, were also included in the team. 

This is, perhaps, for the first time that the women’s cricket team has won laurels at an international competition and won so much of respect, love and affection. Even the Board of Control for Cricket in India was gracious in holding a reception for the team and giving a purse of 50 lakhs to each member of the team. As Mithali happened to note that it was a “revolution” that was taking place and only better efforts would justify the great love and affection showered on them by the countrymen.

 The Indian women have had relatively greater successes in Field Hockey and have won gold medals at several international tournaments because of which they came to be known as the “Golden Girls of Hockey”. A film was too made on them by the noted producer/actor Sharukh Khan. On the other hand, the Indian women’s football is in total disarray. It has somehow lost its way after a bright opening. But one presumes, it is politics that did it in. However, with the recent stand out performance of the women’s cricket team and adulation showered on it things are likely to change and efforts seem to be already afoot to improve matters in other games including football and hockey.

For those of us, who have seen the whole concept of women out on the playing fields slowly evolve, cannot help marvelling at the change. When we were in schools and colleges 50 to 60 years ago girls playing field games was unheard of. A stray athletic event would have a few girls competing, but field games were, apparently, a no no. At the most, they would play less strenuous kho kho or Badminton, otherwise they would confine themselves to in indoor games like carrom and occasionally table tennis.

 Slowly, things seemed to have picked up as the middle classes expanded and the conservatism regarding women “indulging” in manly sports was shaken off. The socio-cultural change brought in a fresh approach. Even the thinking in the governments changed and greater opportunities and sporting facilities were progressively made available for girls. This must have commenced about three or four decades ago. But while in other Asian countries, like Korea, China and Japan, women’s sports had a runaway success, we took time over matching their feats.

 Currently, however, we have distinguished female players in Tennis and Badminton and even in boxing who now are among the best in the world. God and governments willing, soon we are likely to have world beaters in other sporting events too.  

29^th July 2017

*Photo from internet

A death caused by “chin music” of cricket

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Phil Hughes

The funeral service of Phil Hughes was held the other day. A precious and promising career in cricket was lost to Australia’s own “chin music”.  “Chin music” is nothing but bouncing a fast ball to literally shave the chin, if not hit it, of the batsman facing him. Admittedly a difficult ball to bowl and also to play as the ball rises rapidly off the pitch. A batsman needs to have very quick reflexes and needs to be very quick-footed to put it away. Initial reports said that Hughes was quicker than necessary in negotiating the ball which proved to be lethal. He was playing in a Sheffield Shield match of Australia’s domestic tournament like our own Ranji Trophy.

“Chin Music” is also used in the game of baseball. The ball is pitched aiming at the batter or near about his face. The intention is naturally to intimidate the batter or to force him away from the ball. But in baseball there is a difference; if a pitcher overdoes it the umpire can eject him from the game. In cricket there is no such provision. There is only one provision that a bowler can bowl only two bouncers that are essentially part of “chin music” in an over in one-day cricket matches. In test matches there is apparently no such condition.

That reminds one of the “Bodyline” controversies that raged around eighty years ago when Bradman, the God of Cricket, was in top form. England having been defeated by Australia in the 1930 series mainly because of Bradman’s unfailing form while touring England, the English team devised a strategy for its Australia tour in 1932-33 to attack the Australian batsmen’s bodies. Bouncers were being directed at the batsmen and Bradman, as indeed others, were repeatedly hurt. Despite unavailability of any protective gear other than leg-guards and gloves it was a life-threatening situation that led to a diplomatic row between the two countries. Bradman seemingly was intimidated and his rate of scoring fell to an average of around 50 whereas in 1930 he averaged  100 per innings in England. Soon, however the laws of cricket were changed to ensure that “bodyline” bowling was made illegal.

Apparently, the changed laws seem to have now been given up, as in place of “Bodyline” we now have “chin music” that is as bad. With the untimely and unwarranted death of Phil Hughes there is now an international discourse going on whether to ban the bouncers or to restrict them. Many cricketers feel that banning bouncers will take the thrill out of cricket; after all, a pull off a bouncer is a delectable sight. Even Bradman as far back as in 1930s, though he got the ball several times on his ribs and back, soldiered on dealing with the short-pitched fast rising deliveries stepping back hitting them on the rise to the off-side, seldom giving a chance to the fielders in the leg trap set for him to hold any of his catches.. Besides, there have been very few fatalities because of the short-pitched fast deliveries and Hughes’s fatal injury was, apparently, of  a one off kind.

Nari Contractor

Even our own Nari Contractor having had two ribs broken in a Test against England in 1958 played on to make 81. While leading the Indian team to West Indies in 1961-62, he got a severe hit on his head by a beamer, not a short-pitched one but a ball that never touches the ground and is aimed above the waist, from the young fast bowler Charlie Griffith. Contractor collapsed in a heap on the pitch and later had to undergo surgery. And yet I recall seeing him only around two years later in Ahmedabad in 1964 opening the innings for India against England. Two severe injuries seemed to have made no difference to his psyche. He is still around celebrating the eighth decade of his life.

 Perhaps, cricket administrators expect from cricketers such guts, fearlessness and determination to prove themselves as world-class cricketers.

______________ 

Photos from the WWW

Indian Cricket @ 80

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India is celebrating “80 years of Test cricket”. The country played its first ever Test match in the Lord’s cricket ground in London against England in the summer of 1932 and has since then become a name to reckon with in cricket-playing countries.

Although India lost the Test by 158 runs there were some sterling performances that were acknowledged even by Wisden, the almanac that is reckoned as the “Bible of Cricket”. Playing against the likes of Herbert Sutcliff, Eddie Paynter, Wally Hammond and Douglas Jardine, all big names in international Cricket, the Indians were not quite overawed; in fact they did not do too badly in their first official outing. Even Wisden appreciated the performances of two speedsters Amar Singh and Mohammed Nissar, the agility in the field of Lall Singh who, later in the second innings in partnership with Amar Singh, indulged in some lusty hitting making 74 runs in just 40 minutes. The Indian team would probably have fared better had some of its players, especially the side’s best batsman and officiating skipper, Col. CK Naidu, not been suffering from injuries.

“Tests” are cricket matches between two national teams and came to be known as such as they were of gruelling character that tested the relative strengths of the two sides. They are also the longest form of cricket matches between representative national cricket teams with “Test status”, which is accorded by the International Cricket Council (ICC). Reckoned ultimate in testing a side’s ability, skills of its members and, of course, their endurance, playing a test match even now is an ambition nursed by numerous cricketers despite the growing popularity of lucrative shorter varieties of cricket matches. Tests are now regulated to be played over a period of five days – each side playing two innings. Not many probably are aware that earlier Tests used to be “timeless”, i.e. they were played till completion of both innings regardless of the number of days taken in doing so.

The country had to wait for around six years to play its first official Test after having been invited into the Imperial Cricket Council (ICC’s former avatar) in 1926. Starting as a “minnow” in 1932 – like what Zimbabwe is today – India has developed over the years into a strong cricketing nation. Playing at home and abroad, it has registered wins practically against every other cricket playing country even on foreign soil. In the “Wisden on India”, an anthology brought out in 2011 charting Indian cricket, Jonathan Rice, a respected cricket writer said in his Introduction that by winning the 2011 World Cup India became “the only nation to have won world cricket titles in the 60-over, 50-over and 20-over formats. They are currently ranked as the number one Test nation”.

Cricket was brought to the country by the Englishmen in early 1700s. The first match was, reportedly, played in 1721 between two teams that were made only of Englishmen. Not until 1877 the Englishmen invited the Parsees, who had formed their own club in 1848, to play against them. Later, in the earlier years of the 20^th Century teams were formed community-wise and thus Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs and Parsees used to play Quadrangular tournaments every year with the Europeans. In 1937 a fifth team called “The Rest” including Christians, Jews, Buddhists and Singhalese was allowed into the tournament making it Pentangular. However, to discourage communal divisiveness in the game the pentangular tournaments were discontinued in 1946. By this time, however, Ranji Trophy competitions, instituted in 1934 in the name of Ranjit Singh, Jam Saheb of Nawanagar who used to play for England, had taken off in which teams constituted on geographical basis took part. The competition has been carried forward and is now played among the teams of various states. It is a tournament vital for throwing up players for selection in the national team.

During the early years cricket was played only in small pockets in the country. Big cities like Bombay and Calcutta, Delhi and Lahore (now in Pakistan) had taken the lead. Many princes of the former Indian states like Patiala, Holkar, Baroda also patronised cricket, hence, many cricketers gravitated to some of these states seeking better opportunities to play competitive cricket. Cricket was popular also in the princely states of what were earlier Rajputana and Kathiawad. Kathiawad, in fact, produced two “Greats” – Ranjit Singh, Jam Saheb of Nawanagar and his nephew Kumar Sri Duleep Singhji. Both played for England as did another feudal, Nawab Iftikhar Ali of Pataudi. However, the first two found places in the prestigious Wisden’s Hall of Fame. Nawanagar in Kathiawad also produced another Indian great who is known the world over as Vinoo Mankad. His cricketing exploits in England and India during the post-War and early post-independence years are legendary.

The British Indian government thought it unthinkable to send representative Indian teams abroad unless captained by a Maharaja regardless of his competence in the game. Thus, the Maharaja of Porbandar and Maharaj Kumar of Vizianagaram (popularly known as Vizzy) led the 1932 and 1936 Indian teams, respectively, though each of them never measured up to the standards of a test player. The Indian team’s 1946 tour of England was captained by the Nawab Iftikhar Ali Khan of Pataudi, who, however, having been pulled out of retirement, was well past his prime.

Cricket in India was indeed an elitist game, to start with, patronised as it was by the British and the princes. It is an expensive game requiring several accessories as also a specially made pitch to bowl and bat on. Played generally among the urban upper middle classes, it was beyond the affordability of many – individuals, organisations or institutions. Not requiring expensive appurtenances, field hockey was, therefore, more popular and, as is well known, India won a string of gold medals in successive Olympics during those early decades of the 20^th Century. Cricket’s ‘democratisation’ commenced even as the country’s political independence came within sniffing distance when Lala Amarnath, an all-rounder of repute, was appointed captain for the first tour of Australia in 1947-48.

During the early post-independence years the overwhelming presence of players from regions where the game had been played for decades, especially Bombay, was significantly manifest in the national team. Slowly, over a few decades things started changing.  As cricket’s popularity crept out and away from the urban centres into the hinterland – even to the badlands of North India – a distinct change progressively became apparent in the composition of the national teams. The teams, of late, have players hailing virtually from every region and from even small towns and villages displaying a more representative character. The game has become unbelievably popular in the country so much so that it is played in the open spaces in the villages with crude, improvised equipment. It is now virtually a national obsession.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), despite its several deficiencies, was mostly responsible for spread of cricket to all parts of the country as it methodically promoted the game. The erstwhile government-owned All India Radio also massively chipped in by way of airing running commentary of test matches. In the beginning, the commentating used to be in English that, naturally, restricted its listenership. Later, however, with the introduction of Hindi commentary, coupled with the advent of transistorised cheap and portable radios, cricket reached practically every nook and cranny of the country. The 1983 World Cup victory gave its popularity a tremendous boost. With the proliferation of TV sets live visuals of a cricket match in vibrant colours are taken right into every home enabling even the uninitiated in the game to enjoy it. The shorter versions of the game, especially “Twenty-20”, the bang-bang variety, have opened up cricket for enjoyment to a vast section of spectators generally ignorant about cricket’s technicalities.

The country’s vast population of cricket-obsessed fans constitutes a massive market in which cricket is sold, especially by TV channels, generating mindboggling amounts of ad revenues. In the process, the BCCI has become so rich that it has acquired unprecedented commercial clout in the cricketing world, arousing envy among the game’s former patrons. The cricketers too have gained and are paid such handsome amounts that numerous young men try and make a career of the game.

The preceding eighty years of Indian cricket have been remarkable. Not only numerous players, down the years, acquired international standing, two cricket administrators even became presidents of the ICC. Currently Sachin Tendukar is considered an all-time great having scored 100 centuries in both formats. He has just retired from one day internationals after having scored a staggering 18000 odd runs with 49 centuries including a double ton. Some of the former players travel the world commentating on matches. The Indian Premier League – a Twenty-20 tournament – played by professionals launched by the BCCI six years ago, is much sought after as the best of foreign players offer themselves in auctions. If picked up, it offers them opportunities to make very fast millions.

Although during the last couple of years the performance of the country’s team has been somewhat indifferent, yet hopefully it will soon find its former winning ways and its cricketing ability and performance will rise to greater heights before the time comes to celebrate a Century of Indian Cricket.

Cricket on overdrive

It has almost been like carpet bombing – the media hype during the recent International Cricket Council (ICC) Cricket World Cup of one-day internationals that was recently played out in the Indian sub-continent. The “bombing” was intensified just before the India-Pakistan semi-final played at Mohali, near Chandigarh.

The term “carpet bombing” has been described by Wikipedia, the online encyclopaedia, as large-scale bombing of targets covering wide areas usually by dropping many unguided bombs. The tactic aims for complete destruction of a target region, either to destroy personnel and material, or as a means of demoralizing the enemy. In somewhat similar fashion, the print and electronic media “bombed” the reader/viewer with everything they had to soften, if not demolish, his faculty of reason. The print media had sports and other pages dedicated to the World Cup; the TV news channels mounted programmes of discussions, talk-shows, teleconferences and what have you. With interesting names like “Power Play”, “Inside Story”, “Fourth Umpire”, “Kings of Cricket” etc. the programmes – much like unguided bombs – would obliterate regular news-and-views schedules and bombard viewers with opinions, anecdotes, cricketing trivia and suchlike. What’s more, there would be repeat telecasts in the mornings or late in the night for those who, by an odd chance, might have missed them. To add a touch of glamour, they had even inducted two very attractive ladies, one an actor and a cricket-lover and the other a former captain of the Indian women’s cricket team. The idea of the promoters of the channels seems to have been to force-feed the TV audiences, much like the famed Peking ducks or the Kobe cows, with the stuff that they had taken great pains to muster spending millions, maybe billions of rupees and dollars. While one could skip the sports pages of a daily, the visual media is another kettle of fish. It has that unmistakable tendency to arrest the viewers’ attention.

Not many years ago, only the channels that would telecast a match would assemble a few experts and put on the air the discussions in real time prompted by an anchor before the commencement of play, during the intervals or, as they say in cricket lingo, breaks and at the end of the game or, in case of a test match, at the end of the day’s play. It is no longer so. While the channels that buy out the rights to telecast the matches or the tournament continue with their rigmarole, others attracted by the target rating points (TRP), especially the English and vernacular languages news channels, too, have climbed on to the bandwagon. During the recent World Cup, therefore, at any hour of the day or night one or the other or several channels would be inflicting cricket on the unwary surfer.

While the vernacular language channels had to make do with former local heroes, a large number of retired national and international cricketers had been assembled along with numerous national and international commentators from practically every cricketing country. They would expatiate ad nauseam on the finer points of the games that had already been played or strengths or weaknesses of various players as also of the several teams in the fray with their prospects of advancing in the tournament. As hiring of these former foreign cricketing greats meant enormous outflow of cash they had to be kept busy and, hence, they would be put live on the air most of the time, sometimes even on prime time. News was pushed out into the background. During the World Cup the news channels all but forgot about Fukushima and the ongoing war in Libya. Nothing seemed to be news-worthy other than what transpired on the cricket ground. Fed up with this overdose, one felt like kicking the TV.

It’s not that I am not a cricket buff. In my younger days I was very much so. Not only would I play cricket in school and college, I would also, apart from reading books on cricket, avidly listen to the running commentary of matches over the radio. We would tune in to Radio Australia early in the morning to catch the Australia-England “Ashes” series or listen to the BBC till late into the night for the matches played in England with the edifying comments in ‘poetic’ prose by the legendary John Arlott. I still recall the embarrassing Test of 1952 at Headingley, Leeds where India were four wickets down for no-score. The Indian prestige was somewhat redeemed when Vinoo Mankad, later in the same series, scored 72 in the first innings, took 5 English wickets and the scored 184 in the second innings of the Test at the Lords Cricket Ground. The spectators gave him a standing ovation.
All India Radio would broadcast running commentaries when matches were played in India. I remember with nostalgia the delightful commentating of Dev Raj Puri who had mastered the art of giving ball-to-ball commentary, effectively conveying the atmosphere on the ground. Sometime later, Vijay Merchant, a retired cricketer, also started commentating with his thick Gujarati accent. Even “Vizzy”, the Maharaj Kumar of Vizianagaram, a cricket busybody, had insinuated himself into the commentary box. For him what was happening on the ground was of little importance. He would expound more on the exploits of Polly Umrigar in the Queens’ Park Oval, Trinidad or Sabina Park in Kingston, Jamaica. Most interesting, however, used to be the chats of AFS Talyarkhan with commentators during the tea-break around the early 1950s. He was reputed to be a marathon commentator earlier and used to cover entire five-day Test matches by himself. Later, he used to write a witty column on cricket with the title “Do you get me Steve?” I still remember a devastating one of his directed at Vijay Merchant on the much-publicised incident of a girl kissing Abbas Ali Baig after he scored a hundred at Bombay in a Test. “Vijay Merchant was wondering on the air”, he wrote, “where all the girls were when he was scoring his hundreds. Fast asleep Vijay, they were too tired of waiting”, followed by the inevitable “Do you get me Steve?” An opening batsman, old-timers would remember, Merchant, though technically perfect, was undoubtedly a plodder.

Cricket was earlier quintessentially a sport indulged in by the upper and middle classes. Patronised by the maharajas and nawabs, it used to be played mostly by the feudals and their progeny. Even the commentaries over the radio were listened to by them and the middle classes who possessed the radio-receivers – a rarity in those days. The common man as also the deprived masses could never afford it and, hence, never showed any interest in the game. A change came over after transistorisation of the radio. It became cheap, affordable and portable. Running commentaries in Hindi extended the reach of cricket making it more fathomable to the non-English knowing crowd. The game received a big boost in popularity when India won the third edition of the Cricket World Cup in 1983. Advancement in technology gave it a further boost with proliferation of TV sets and cable and satellite channels carrying live images of matches into the living rooms. Today, cricket is watched on TV by millions of Indians in high-end houses as also in rural and urban shanties, even if the power in the latter happens to be purloined. A once-aristocratic game has been taken by TV to the plebeians and they have taken to it, virtually, like the duck takes to water.

The viewership in multi-millions generates billions of dollars in advertisement revenues. It has made the country’s apex cricketing body, the Board of Control for Cricket in India, cash-rich, giving it an enormous clout in international cricket. India may not be a world economic power yet, but it surely is a world cricketing power. And, before anybody could get wise about it, cricket’s centre of gravity shifted from England to India. No wonder, the ICC World Cup was played out recently in the sub-continent for the second time and two sub-continental teams fought out for the honours with India winning the Cup. The Central and some state governments gave a holiday to the cricket-crazy staff to cheer the home team even if they did so from the comfort of their homes. No work would have been done in offices even otherwise.

With the kind of money cricket now generates things certainly had to change. It has become a year-round circus and is no longer a sport for the three or four winter months as of yore. With everyone raking in the moolah none seems to resent it. There is, therefore, going to be no respite from cricket. Even as dust is yet to settle down after the World Cup, the Indian Premier League’s Twenty-Twenty (T-20) tournament has commenced and cricket will again monopolise the TV channels for the next fifty days.