I have been a cricket romantic ever since I can remember. My Dad loved the game and so did his Dad. So much so that he, my Granddad, used to maintain scorecards of cricket Test matches from the 1950s, 60s and 70s! He had clippings from newspapers in a scrapbook. I recall being fascinated looking at them as a kid. Coming from that legacy, (if you could call tracking cricket scores a legacy), a millennial, brought up on a steady stream of cricket heroes starting from Sachin Tendulkar, Mohammad Azharuddin, Rahul Dravid and co., to MS Dhoni and co., it is no wonder that the true love of the game still remains Test match cricket with One Day Internationals coming second. In 2007/08, T20 came into being and although the Indian team won the inaugural World Cup in that format, T20 has never evoked passion and interest like Test matches did. Will they ever in the hearts of people like me?
The Indian Premier League (IPL) has changed the way that cricket is viewed. For me, there is little interest before the tournament begins. There always seem to be too many changes in team compositions to keep track of. However, there is absolutely no denying the spectacle that comes to the fore every day through the months of April and May. In spite of myself, I am drawn to track the scores of every day matches. I am outraged by the shots that the batsmen play. The other day, one of them actually half-swept a fast bowler for six! That is just unbelievable. It is a testament to the way cricket has progressed in favor of the batsmen. It has long been established that the cricket bats need to be regulated in some way. The cricket ball has its own specifications. Cricket bats also do, but there is sufficient leeway to allow for ordinary batsmen to simply make any connection with the ball for it to travel in excess of 70 meters.
Regardless, hopeless romantics like me still view the cricket on display without really rooting for one team or the other. I like to look at how captains rally their teams, how individual players perform under pressure and the style of each of the teams. This year, it looks like the script has changed somewhat with the traditional powerhouses no longer appearing unbeatable. Chennai, Mumbai and Kolkata are all looking vulnerable and are finding it difficult to win consistently. Delhi, Lucknow and Bengaluru are doing better than usual. The crowds like what they see and understandably, some matches are sold out more than the others. There is still a long way to go before the League has professionalism towards the paying public (ease of purchasing tickets, season ticket holders, facilities at the stadiums, etc.), who is always taken for granted in India. Nevertheless, people file in for an evening of entertainment – sixes hit, loud music a few wickets and a chance to see the players that they have seen only on screens. It is an event that comes by once every year and brings together people from all walks of life in viewing and supporting their franchise.
The cricket romantic in me still hopes that one day, some day, the tables will turn and the batsmen will have to play with a standard bat size, the boundary ropes will not be pulled in some 10 meters in and the bowlers are able to showcase their skills without being hit for 4s or 6s by the batsmen just making some contact with the ball. If wishes were horses…
Mithun's Musings 