What is the essence of a good, masaladar,entertaining Bollywood movie? The answer is very simple.It should have some catchy lines ala Salim-Javed script of the mid 70s, few melodious tunes with some "Monica Oh My Darling" kind of numbers, Romance, a Gabbar Singh or Mogambo like villain with some heart pumping brutal fight sequence involving a handsome Raja Harischandra like hero and last but not the least a Rekha or Hema Malini or even a Katrina Kaif. But if someone removes one of these factors for example taking Rakhi Sawant as the leading lady , I can bet that he is in the process of making his black money into white. Preparing a Cricket pitch also involves various factors. As Shashi Kapoor said "Mere paas Maa hai", I must say that Indian cricket pitches these days are missing their "Maa".
Comparisons most of the times dont reflect the truth but sometimes they are very much instructive.Over the past 5 years if we look at test records in Australia only 2 tests have been drawn out of 27 tests, in South Africa 29 tests have been played and only 3 tests did not end decisively whereas Sri Lanka hosted 22 tests with 4 tests going the full distance. In the same period till the end of the Sri Lanka series this year out of 26 test matches 11 ended without any result which is a massive 42%.If we consider the fact that after advent of T20 & ODI, the mindset of the cricketers towards the mantra of playing test cricket changed, yielding higher percentage of matches ending with a result, than it was back in the 70s, 80s or even early 90s, then this statistic is a big worry for the indian cricket fans as well as the future of test cricket in India.
There is nothing nailbiting, heart pumping as the exciting draw. The Oval 1979 when India ended at 429 for 8 chasing 438 or Old Trafford 2005 when last wicket pair of Australia survived the England's barrage of reverse swing or Cardiff 2009 which was just the reverse of Old Trafford. Sadly as an Indian cricket fan these 11 drawn games have been some of the worst games i have witnessed. With all those mindless exhibition of batting ,the bowlers have been murdered in a Talibani way.For example Ahamedabad 2009 where as many as 7 hundreds, 1598 runs were scored over the 5 days whereas only 21 wickets fell. Batsmen like Mahela jayawardena,Rahul Dravid, Prasanna Jayawardena etc lodged in there for bed, breakfast, lunch and dinner. But even when teams mercifully shook hands after the match, the pitch was good enough for another 10 days of cricket.
There is no problem about the surface being batsmen friendly as long as it deteriorates over the course of the game for example Chennai tie test 1986 or Chennai 2001 when India defeated the Aussies by 2 wickets with a nailbiting finish.People often talk about declining crowd in test matches. Back in the 70s and 80s despite some dull draws people went into the ground to watch test cricket but the difference is that back then people had much less scope for any entertainment. Most of the houses did not have any TV. So in that scenario you take whatever you get. But nowdays with so many forums of entertainment available, people wont take any mediocrity.
With the emergence of the T20 format & IPL, cricket is being treated like prostitute where test cricket is just a 200 Rs hook-up customer in a damp old room with a bulb.Authorities must realise that cricket is not just hit and giggles. Its high time that the board officials from the BCCI address this problem.
13 comments:
Hats Off Gaurav..I am not a Cricket buff but the things you have covered in this blog does make me think about the situations where India has suffered..Keep writing and highlighting the things which are left behind...
hey buddy ur blogs are awsome and they strictly hit the soul of an indian.. they describe the true story of a player as well as a human being ...keep writing
no doubt the amount of cricket is leading to this loss of interest.. m sure no one wants pitches to be like dis but maybe its kind off evolution.. even perth wicket isnt as green as it was.
ok....mayb i donno a hell lot abt cricket n m not at all interested ..........but...i do agree wid wat u say....inke paas maa kaha hai?
but technically speaking....inke paas maa nahi bat hai yarr.....lol.....
its a simply an outstanding overview of the statistics of cricket of India...and it is reflecting the present idea and expectations of all the cricketlovers...to which the authority and players need 2 combat..in order 2 keep the spirit alive..you[gourav] keep up the good work..it is very much required...
i hv no idea of pitches n all..bt u highlighting d technical drawbacks or unfavourable conditions..lead us[ who have very little idea of dis much loved sport] 2 a more reasonable idea of d losses in d game..
Use more of your database........the writing is of professional qualityn wid some more datas fed in it would be a marvel......go deeper into da problm.......but still hats off yet again.....
simply,outstanding,gurudev.blog ta porte porte ekta kathae khali mathate aschilo tor moto likhte parle nijeke dhanno mone kortam.je kono lekhar asol holo tar intro r tor intro tei ur setting the tone for the whole article.tarpor dhire dhire je bhabe test cricket history er minute details gulo diyechis kono non-cric loving person o puro article ta porte badho hobe.keep up the good work.
I agree with the point you highlighted about Test Cricket and other forms of the game . It is true that day by day Test matches are loosing its pride. But I don't think it is because only of pitch formats. As you have mentioned, we are getting results in various countries right? So but still people do not go to watch Test cricket.
Last series also we got results. Isn't it? I know Jeff crow did rated the pitches as not up to the mark, but still I feel if you keep your basics right you can do well(as "apam chutiya" did :P).
Let me conclude like this:
Yes. Of course the pitch qualities can be better in the future, but Test cricket is not loosing it's glory because of only "pitch". ICC have to think about how to make it attractive again[:)]
Cheers!! Long live Cricket!!
Simply amazing, You've got such nice writing and analyzing skills. Keep writing !! Its a tereat to read ur articles :)
That was an informative and enlightening piece of writing.Hope the right people see it and make the necessary changes that You have wished for in your post.
Keep Blogging :)
just brilliant...!!
Hope the BCCI addresses this problem sooner or later so that the Indian tracks would provide more and more results and that the number of no result percentage u have mentioned comes down to below 10% atleast. Hope the the Indians pitches in future will provide us with more results and u too will provide us with many more new blogs.
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