Is there a problem with the world of cricket?
A post on X (formerly known as Twitter) which gained popularity on other social media platforms as well reads, "If you want to promote cricket in the USA, then make India and Pakistan play a 5-match T20I series over there. Don't spoil the biggest cricketing event in the world for the heck of it." There are other posts about the low-scoring pitch in New York with many voicing the sentiment that these are not good enough to play T20 matches on.
The brand image of cricket as a sport has been shaped by the role played by batters. If you ask most cricket fans about their favourite matches or performances, chances are that they will name an unforgettable batting innings. Inadvertently perhaps, batters have assumed the roles of main characters in the team, bowlers the supporting characters, and the fielders have become silent extras. The advent of T20 cricket has only heightened this effect.
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The Indian Premier League (IPL) has also set the tone for what to expect from T20 matches. People are accustomed to nearly every match being a 200-plus run stunner where the team batting second nearly achieves the target. There should be no trend set in a sport, to the extent that every match reads like a scripted performance. But when there is such a long tournament played in one country that has perfected its business model by securing eyeballs on every game, they are incentivised to create exactly that. This situation has prompted even the biggest names in the game like Virat Kohli to say that he does not want to see matches where the bowlers have no room to make an impact.
Just because the New York pitch—which has quite an interesting backstory of being constructed in Adelaide and then transported to New York—has failed to produce any of those high-scoring matches, people have been quick to criticise it. It begs the question: what actually is the true essence of cricket? Have we become so used to only one style that we have lost the ability to appreciate cricket's many variations? The dialogue on social media makes it seem like cricket fans have solidified what they expect cricket to be and are only satisfied when those expectations are met. After all, T20 demands a short attention span and its promise has always been to deliver immediate gratification. This has also rendered Test cricket inadmissible in the race to remain relevant under modern entertainment conditions. But cricket fans with a bigger appetite for what cricket has to offer are well aware of what the 5-day format can yield: slow-burn thrillers, unpredictable pendulum swings, grit, determination, and the awe that displays of rigorous discipline can inspire. In the same vein, low-scoring T20 matches where bowlers dominate and the matches go down to the wire encapsulate much of the thrill that we may otherwise be missing out on.
All this is not to say that there isn't a problem with cricket at the moment. But I don't think we are pointing our fingers in the right direction. Along with the quality of New York pitches, people have also raised issues with the inclusion of 20 teams in the T20 World Cup. Granted, this results in some matches where the quality of cricket from both sides is sorely unmatched but surely, we can all see the bigger picture here. If every year is going to be saturated with multiple major cricket tournaments, we might as well invite a bigger pool of teams to partake in it. Cricket fans should rejoice at the prospect of the sport gaining wider popularity in other nations.
An issue with cricket right now is the number of major tournaments taking place close to each other. This does not give the teams that need it, the time to reflect, course-correct and implement changes. The ICC Men's ODI Cricket World Cup 2023 ended in November of last year. With only seven months in hand, the teams had to prepare for the T20 World Cup. If we take a look at a five-year period in the cricket cycle, year one would see an ODI World Cup, year two would have a T20 World Cup, year three might have less fanfare but it could feature an ICC Champions Trophy, and possibly an Asia Cup (which would include all the teams where cricket is the most popular), year four would see another T20 World Cup and then the ODI World Cup in the fifth. What that has led to is a simple continuation of momentum (or lack thereof). The teams who have been doing well continue to do so, and the struggling teams see little to no change.
As Bangladeshi fans, we have been immersed in bitterness and disappointment at the state of our cricket team despite their access to proper resources. We outsiders don't have any role to play in making changes but what can help us is to gain some perspective. There are teams such as Pakistan and Sri Lanka who are arguably faring worse than us currently in international cricket. West Indies did not even qualify for the last ODI World Cup. All of these three teams are former World Champions and have regressed at a more appalling rate than us. This is not meant to be a consolation for the Bangladesh team but rather an evaluation of the overall state of cricket and the system in place that has allowed teams like India, Australia, and England to remain at the top, often at the cost of others.
Having said that, there is undeniably always room for uncertainty in cricket, especially in T20s. This is the format in which the quality of cricket matters less than how well you can take advantage of the shorter match time and create upsets. This is also an opportunity for smaller teams to make their mark, while teams like Pakistan, New Zealand, and England in this edition of the World Cup are either already eliminated or struggling to qualify for the next stage.
There are other teams like the Netherlands, Ireland, and the USA of late, who despite not being regarded as serious contenders of the game and not having access to the same cricket resources, display firepower and an intention to prove themselves that is really commendable. They perform with a hunger to prove themselves, probably because it is that much harder for them to get their foot in the door. Much like in other areas of life, the underdogs are scrappy, making the most of what's available to pursue their passions. It is only fair that teams varying greatly in rankings become regular participants in major cricket tournaments. The problems presented by cricket can be offset by the changes that are being introduced. Normalising pitches that are more bowler-friendly and being more welcoming to different cricket teams can build a more exciting future for the sport.
Madiha Athar Khan is a columnist for The Daily Star and a technical writer at Optimizely. She also leads the Art for Soul movement. She can be reached at madihak1923@gmail.com
Views expressed in this article are the author's own.
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