4th Test at the Gabba, Brisbane, 15 - 19 Jan 2021

[Senile Sentry]

Scheduling of SMAT was strictly keeping in mind IPL auctions in February. Obviously bigger priority for the Board than winning a series in Aus or the overall picture.

 

[cnerd123]

Scheduling of SMAT was strictly keeping in mind IPL auctions in February. Obviously bigger priority for the Board than winning a series in Aus or the overall picture.

yup

all ties back into why Test cricket is dying. It's just not the number 1 priority for the administrators atm. Making money is, and the IPL = money.

 

[honestbharani]

This is interesting. Wasn't aware families have travelled with players. Actually I dont think anyone would have opted for this.

Yeah most of the test players had their families with them. Rahane, Pujara, Ashwin for sure, dunno if others brought their families. Dont even know how many more of them are married, tbh. Rohit did not travel with his wife and kid as he was joining the tour for only a short few weeks anyways. Are there other guys who are married in this contingent? Dhawan's wife and kids live in Melbourne anyways. Most others are not married I think. Virat's wife was obviously pregnant and could not travel.

 

[Senile Sentry]

Yeah most of the test players had their families with them. Rahane, Pujara, Ashwin for sure, dunno if others brought their families. Dont even know how many more of them are married, tbh. Rohit did not travel with his wife and kid as he was joining the tour for only a short few weeks anyways. Are there other guys who are married in this contingent? Dhawan's wife and kids live in Melbourne anyways. Most others are not married I think. Virat's wife was obviously pregnant and could not travel.

OK. I thought Ashwin's family is back in India. Good for them.

 

[honestbharani]

OK. I thought Ashwin's family is back in India. Good for them.

Oh, his wife has been posting videos on social media. Turns out, Prithvi Shaw is the real babysitter in the team, as there were a number of videos of his with the kids on tour (Ashwin, Rahane and Pujara's).

 

[Senile Sentry]

yup

all ties back into why Test cricket is dying. It's just not the number 1 priority for the administrators atm. Making money is, and the IPL = money.

I see no future for test cricket as it is bound to die in India soon. We all thought it will last decade but then IPL's impact wasn't really felt on that decade - for most of the players were already brought up in the traditional style and had some respect for longer version.

This decade we will see no such big respect. And I can't blame the kids. They see a Tewatia getting lifetime coverage on YV and media and becoming superstars by managing to find the middle for an over or two. On the other hand, you have the Viharis who risk an arm and a leg to draw a test match and be largely forgotten in a couple of months. Despite doing all the donkey work to average over 60 in FCs and making it to the team.

Risk vs Reward. And than entire generation who have been brought up on IPL diet is just getting unleashed now. This decade will see IPL going bigger and bigger (more teams, better quality) at the cost of substandard batting performances in longer versions.

Bowling will continue to thrive, given the IPL barometers and motivations.

 

[cnerd123]

idk, i'm not that pessimistic. Tests in India at least still have a big enough following and are profitable enough to survive. India's casual cricket fans are all about IPL sure, but i think there are enough die-hards to ensure it will continue to exist. In a population of 1 billion you will have a ton of people that will want to play, watch and preserve Tests

 

[Gnske]

Look at Cricket Australia's video highlights from the 2018 Indian tour and this tour. And compare that to views from their previous videos.

They're fiends for Test cricket.

 

[Dan]

Having some A games would have helped Australia too, given their choice in case of more injuries was to call up players playing the BBL. A rather win-win situation for everyone concerned but somehow did not happen.

I definitely take the point around the desirability but CA were never going to go for this - Channel 7 would have had an aneurysm and tried to sue them into oblivion when they found out that the quality of the BBL would be diluted by an Australia A series!

 

[Senile Sentry]

And if you noted , attendances at tests have been dwindling over past 10-15 years. Its miserable sometimes seeing the proverbial r men and a dog situation at some grounds.

The earlier generation die hards used to go to stadiums to watch games. Most of the remaining die hards today are probably born in 80s or earlier (or maybe early 90s) who had the fortune of watching the greats perform in some of the best series and were hooked to cricket well before IPL came. And they don't even go to stadiums to watch test matches.

And the generation this decade were introduced to IPL first. God save test cricket.

 

[cnerd123]

attendances aren't a great metric to guage the popularity of Test cricket. Most people follow it via the internet anyways. Especially in this day and age where everyone has a smart device. It's easy to find a stream of a game (legal or otherwise), there are multiple ball by ball commentary sources, and highlights of any major moments show up in social media within minutes of happening.

 

[GotSpin]

Why would you watch it in some **** hole stadium when its easy enough to stream at home?

 

[Spark]

Tests will be fine. They attract long term emotional investment in a way very few other sports can match, and certainly the other forms of cricket can't match even if they're more "entertaining". One of the bigger modern discoveries in product branding iirc is that long term emotional investment will basically always win over short term fad chasing, no matter what the focus groups say.

 

[stephen]

Yeah test cricket = eyeballs, t20 cricket = bums.

 

[Senile Sentry]

I disagree. Crowds are the first and best benchmarks to evaluate popularity of a game. It means there is passion and following enough for them to take the effort and physically cheer for their team in live. Or better take along their wards as well and make them potentially hooked to cricket as well.

Test cricket always used to be big events and have jam-packed attendances wherever played in India. That started changing towards mid and end 2000s. Initially this was attributed to new test centers and them bring away from city centers etc but it has since then become more of a norm than exception.

Make no mistake, Indian test cricket is well and truly staring at its demise in this decade.

 

[stephen]

As people get busier and entertainment options widen, test cricket will likely lose attendance in most places while t20 increases, but attendance doesn't mean a whole lot when you have billion dollar tv deals and that's the bulk of the revenue.

 

[Senile Sentry]

Billion dollar deals flowing primarily from Limited overs games. Those billions will only get better if more t20s and Lois are played in lieu of tests.

Edit : India only.

Other boards are already in pockets of big media companies and don't have much of a choice over schedule making anyway.

 

[RossTaylorsBox]

Oh, his wife has been posting videos on social media. Turns out, Prithvi Shaw is the real babysitter in the team, as there were a number of videos of his with the kids on tour (Ashwin, Rahane and Pujara's).

Are you sure that they weren't all kids.

 

[Shri]

I disagree. Crowds are the first and best benchmarks to evaluate popularity of a game. It means there is passion and following enough for them to take the effort and physically cheer for their team in live. Or better take along their wards as well and make them potentially hooked to cricket as well.

Test cricket always used to be big events and have jam-packed attendances wherever played in India. That started changing towards mid and end 2000s. Initially this was attributed to new test centers and them bring away from city centers etc but it has since then become more of a norm than exception.

Make no mistake, Indian test cricket is well and truly staring at its demise in this decade.

nah test cricket can survive fair weather fans and their doom and gloom analysis

 

[Shri]