Kohli won't always save the day. BCCI must wake up
Watching Test cricket on television is still a thrill for the connoisseurs of the sport.
Be it Australia getting bamboozled by South Africa Down Under in the Test series or India tightening the choke chain on England in Vizag, there is plenty of thrill.
Yet, if you look at the dwindling attendance at venues in India during the Tests and thousands of empty seats during the Ranji Trophy, you could be sure there is something drastically wrong.
This has been a season of experiments. Shifting Ranji Trophy matches to neutral venues has been counter-productive.
Scores registered in each innings is around 450 and nobody is there to watch it.
If the Indian cricket board (BCCI) thought neutral venues in Ranji cricket would work well, it has been the opposite.
There is no logic in holding Ranji matches at neutral venues as unless there is a local team playing; fans are not interested in going to the stadium and cheering good cricket.
As it were, first class cricket in India has not seen crowds coming in a long time.
Unless there is better packaging and masala, nobody will watch this cricket which is supposed to be the first step of a ladder for building a player's career.
When one talks of packaging, it includes many factors. Conditions have to be good; the spectators need good sitting, eating and restroom facilities.
If this is not going to be done, Ranji cricket will become an exercise in merely conducting matches for the record.
Back to Rajkot and Vizag, the two new Test centres, cricket on view has been starkly in contrast.
Had it not been for Virat Kohli's dour knock in the second innings in Rajkot, it could have been difficult for India.
The champion Test captain has more than managed to set his personal record straight against England.
In Vizag, on Saturday, Kohli accelerated beautifully so that India can build up a sizeable lead and then throttle England with R Ashwin and company taking over. Sadly, the turnout in Vizag, too, has been very low.
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| BCCI head Anurag Thakur. (Photo credit: PTI) |
To blame Prime Minister Narendra Modi's demonetisation, leaving no money in fans' pockets to buy tickets would be wrong. On Day One in Vizag, gates were free and still none turned up.
It's a dangerous sign for Test cricket and unless the administrators of cricket, who are busier with legal issues, handle it, we could meet the plight of Australia.
All those who wake up early in India and switch on television to watch Australia bat on home wickets feel numb.
It's a crazy sight. The famed Australian players who take great pride in donning the Baggy Green are being crushed by the South African bowlers.
It may be hard to digest this but the truth is excess of Big Bash league T20 has damaged Australian cricket terribly.
Their plight is pathetic as they are losing wickets mindlessly and the rudiments of Test batting have been forgotten.
Unlike India, people Down Under take responsibility. Chairman of selection committee Rodney Marsh quit, owning up for the embarrassing Test series loss.
Cricket pundits in Australia have said that when they come to India next year, they will be whipped by India in the Test series!
That could be true but the plight of India can also get bad very soon. It's sickening to hear famed commentators at home already talking about how Cheteshwar Pujara, on current form, is sure to get an IPL contract!
Pray, India is in the midst of a hectic Test calendar and to already worry about the Indian Premier League next summer shows how wrong the priority is of commentators.
Surely, as men who have a responsibility towards Indian cricket, our commentators need to be more serious.
Lessons need to be learnt from the Big Bash effect on Australian Test cricket. If not, soon the Indians will also be sailing in the same boat.
If, today, we have star performers in Test cricket, it's not because of the IPL.
Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane have not come out of the IPL system but batsmen who have come through good batting basics in first-class cricket.
The BCCI needs to do serious soul searching and nurture young talent which can do well in first class cricket so that they can knock on the doors of Test selection in some time.
Then again, the trend of crowds dwindling for Tests at home will soon spread to ODIs as well as not too many people are interested in sitting out the whole day, first under sunlight and then the arc lights.
There has to be better packaging for fans and there has to be more than just cricket on offer.
For sport to survive, you need to engage the fan. Tickets need to include not only gate entry but also some snacks and water plus soft drinks.
At present, if you go to any Test or ODI venue in India, finding free and safe drinking water and clean loos is a nightmare.
Before the rot sets in like Australia, India need to read the warning signals.
Merely celebrating wins on spin-friendly pitches will do no good in the long run.
(Courtesy of Mail Today.)