What must India do to be be recognized as the NEW home of cricket?

[Bapu Rao Swami]

This is an article I found at Fox...worth a read..although its long..bear with me!

"Smokescreen clouds tradition By Mike Coward October 7, 2004

IT is regrettable the heart and soul of Indian cricket so often these days is obscured by the commercial imperative.

While it easy to admire the entrepreneurial flair of those who have created a sports entertainment industry to rival the best and worst Bollywood has to offer, there is little respect for the game's history and traditions.

To this end you will be most surprised to learn that Australia and India are playing not for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy but for the TVS Cup.

Apparently the Border-Gavaskar Trophy will be presented at the end of the series in Mumbai next month, but until then it will stay out of sight. The focus will be on TVS, a motor company that makes bikes powerful enough to catch the eye of Sachin Tendulkar who generally is given to driving his Ferrari or BMW.

More extraordinary is the fact that the Border-Gavaskar Trophy lies in a cabinet at Cricket Australia's headquarters across from the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Jolimont. And this, despite the fact India is the holder of the trophy after their stunning success here 3½ years ago and their admirable performances in Australia last summer.

The Board of Cricket for Control in India (BCCI) has missed a priceless opportunity to showcase to this entire cricket-crazed country the prize for what players and critics the world over are coming to regard as a series of the utmost significance.

Indeed, officials seem unfussed it is not even in the country.

Call it the TVS series by all means and give thanks to Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth for the vast number of rupees - US dollars, actually - on offer from TVS and other sponsors but let's not have two trophies for the series.

This is undignified and an insult to Border and Gavaskar, two of the game's most distinguished servants.

Much to his credit, acting Australia captain Adam Gilchrist referred by name to the Border-Gavaskar Trophy as an icon series during the press conference to launch the TVS Cup on Tuesday.

This in itself was quite a spectacle with a smoke machine working over- time as part of the backdrop. The stage suddenly revolved to reveal an unmemorable trophy that Gilchrist and Ganguly could parade before a bevy of press and television cameramen.

Apparently it wasn't even thought appropriate to introduce Sunil Gavaskar who was at the Chinnaswamy Stadium having just started his duties as consultant to the India team.

That there is a need to educate the Indian cricket public about the finer points of the game was evident again yesterday when the national broadsheet newspaper, The Times of India, referred to the Gavaskar-Border Trophy. And it has not been the lone offender.

After all, the Border-Gavaskar Trophy which was inaugurated in 1996, was the inspiration of the Australia-India Council, which is headquartered in Canberra, in conjunction with Cricket Australia.

India once had a Test cricket culture, but there is little sign of it today. Since the country's shock win at the World Cup in 1983, India has been utterly seduced by the limited-overs game.

And, to the despair of many, Pakistan and Sri Lanka have gone the same way. Conversely, Australia has a vibrant Test cricket culture that contemporary players have embraced enthusiastically.

This was evident yesterday when in a simple but memorable ceremony near the nets, Michael Clarke was presented with his first Test cap by Shane Warne, one of the game's immortals. In no time at all it will have number 389 embroidered on to it. An affable young man, Clarke will never forget the moment.

It was, too, an awareness and respect for the past that prompted Justin Langer to wear a black armband in memory of Ken Meuleman who died last month.

Meuleman, who played one Test for Australia in 1945-46, was a legendary figure in West Australian cricket circles and a renowned junior coach who helped shape Langer as a young cricketer.

Langer served his mentor well with an innings of characteristic grit and persistence after an unconvincing start.

Conventions as well as traditions were respected yesterday.

Gilchrist showed exemplary manners by waiting to accompany his counterpart Sourav Ganguly away from the coin-tossing ceremony.

When the Australians were last in India Ganguly angered Steve Waugh by repeatedly refusing to respect him and the conventions of Test match cricket by not walking with him to and from the dressing-room for the toss.

For the moment, anyway, relations seem most cordial."

 

[Bapu Rao Swami]

And this is the reply I got from one cricket enthusiast at another forum explaining in detail the hurdles Indian cricketing culture faces!

"This is an Indian viewpoint.

I am not going to talk about the importance given by the Aussies. If India wants to be recognized as the home of cricket, it has to have the best cricketing facilities, best grounds, best domestic set up, best players and of course money and marketing and last but not the least crowd support.

Crowd Support:

Yes. We do have lots of support for ODIs in all the Indian venues. But what about tests? Only Kolkata, Chennai and Mumbai have test match tradition in India. We need to have the test match culture in places like Bangalore, Mohali, Ahmedabad and New Delhi.

What about the crowd support in domestic cricket? How many Indian fans follow their Ranji trophy teams? The Ranji games are played to empty stands. Even the TV coverage doesn't invoke much interest. On the contrary the English county system is better supported by crowds and sponsors.

Tradition:

DO we have any traditional values in Indian cricket? The Aussies have Boxing Day and New Year tests. Every visiting team gets an opportunity to play a test at Lord's. India used to have Pongal (Jan 14) tests at Chennai and New Year tests at Eden Gardens. Those traditions are done away now. We should have proper cricketing season in India. The same thing should be applicable for the domestic cricket also.

Just look at the way things are done in England. Someone like Dilip Vengsarkar (He is a member of Middlesex CC based on his Lord's exploits) receives the schedule and tickets for all the Middlesex matches a year ahead. Can BCCI do an encore? My foot. We are talking about the telecast rights and match venues a week before the start of the greatest test series of the decade.

Facilities:

What about the infrastructure for cricket in India? Yes. We have lights at more than 8 venues. Are we using them for domestic/international games? The answer is NO.

What about the practice facilities in the Indian grounds? What about the dressing room facilities? What about the spectator facilities? One Mohali/Eden Gardens does not a summer make.

Domestic Cricket:

How much money a Ranji cricketer earns in India? He earns pittance compared to the league cricketers in England. Can we attract foreign players to our domestic league?

Administration:

Do we have cricket administrators in India? Ranbir "Who" Mahendra is the BCCI president and that sums up the whole thing. We need full time professionals who can do a clinical job. Jagmohan Dalmia might sell a bottle of water to a drowning man. But he has let India down badly in cricket administration.

As an Indian I would love India to be recognized as the "HOME". But I would love to see the above-mentioned factors be improved before the same happens.

--Vijay"

 

[Linda]

Good article. I didnt know about this TVS Cup business... very tacky.

 

[Bapu Rao Swami]

off topic - I am not aware on the copyright rules that apply on cricketweb, I hope I have not broken the house rules, if I have then MODS, please delete my post ASAP..while I rewrite it in my own words. If it doesn't break house rules..then lets discuss!

 

[Richard]

Commercialisation in cricket has gone mad, we all know that, there seems not much that we can do about it.
It's a crying shame, it really is.
Let's hope this thread doesn't go the same way as your last one.

 

[SJS]

What must India do to be be recognized as the NEW home of cricket?

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/874563.cms

Here is one point of view.

 

[Hala]

I certinally found it remarkable that India vs Australia, 1st day of the the 1st test and the ground looked about half full. Whilst I know we're blessed with a remarkable test cricket culture in Australia (many Australians don't even follow ODI cricket unless its the WC) but surely a country with over a billion people, many of whom are cricket fanatics can fill up a medium sized cricket stadium when the undisputed world champions are playing a team that would like to challenge them for that position.

I don't know what crowds are like in England but I think it would be a safe assumption that most of the first three days of the series would be sold out?

 

[aussie_beater]

The Bangalore stadium has a capacity of 40000 and half full isn't that bad attendance, but yeah if this match were played in Kolkata or Mumbai, the attendance would have been much higher on 1st day. Some Indian fans tend to wait for a good Indian performance before showing up in test matches and so attendances on certain days are way higher then others. That was the case in the last series between India and Aus in 2001.... from the 4th day onwards in Eden Gardens, it was almost full to the 100,000 capacity. Same happened in the next match in Chennai as India was in the upswing.

 

[aussie_beater]

What must India do to be be recognized as the NEW home of cricket?

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/874563.cms

Here is one point of view.

And that point of view is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard on the subject of how to manage sports.

BCCI needs to be held accountable as an organization with public responsibilities, but doing what this article advocates borders on lunacy in my opinion.

 

[Hala]

The Bangalore stadium has a capacity of 40000 and half full isn't that bad attendance, but yeah if this match were played in Kolkata or Mumbai, the attendance would have been much higher on 1st day. Some Indian fans tend to wait for a good Indian performance before showing up in test matches and so attendances on certain days are way higher then others. That was the case in the last series between India and Aus in 2001.... from the 4th day onwards in Eden Gardens, it was almost full to the 100,000 capacity. Same happened in the next match in Chennai as India was in the upswing.

I can only think of the crowds that attended the Melbourne and Sydney tests down here last summer when we were playing India, once we knew there was going to be a real contenst. This current series has been hyped to high heavens, even in Australia in the midst or preparations for a federal election has been more focused on the cricket than on politics (well many of us have :P ). It just seems strange to see such a passionate people unable to fill a 40,000 capacity ground when playing the world champions and after what happened in 2001.

If India wants to build a strong test match tradition it needs to cut its ODI schedule in half and focus more on the tests. I wonder if you ask Tendulkar and the other stars of the Indian team which format they enjoy more what they would say. ODIs are a dime and a dozen now days that many have become meaningless, for example over here, when we lost to England in the Champions Throphy, it barely rated a mention because it was such a meaningless match for us (though for English fans it was undoutably a remarkable achievement).

 

[aussie_beater]

If India wants to build a strong test match tradition it needs to cut its ODI schedule in half and focus more on the tests. I wonder if you ask Tendulkar and the other stars of the Indian team which format they enjoy more what they would say. ODIs are a dime and a dozen now days that many have become meaningless, for example over here, when we lost to England in the Champions Throphy, it barely rated a mention because it was such a meaningless match for us (though for English fans it was undoutably a remarkable achievement).

I fully agree that India has to cut back on the number of ODIs it plays. Actually India is playing less ODIs these days compared to the time when Azharuddin was the captain. In my opinion Test match cricket in India got devalued a lot in the early and mid 90s, when all India was doing was playing meaningless tournaments and long ODI series at home. It was all a result of Dalmiya messing up the game more then anyone else. He is in it just for the money, which is ofcourse required, but this man has no love for the game or anything...and its purely money for him.

 

[SJS]

I fully agree that India has to cut back on the number of ODIs it plays. Actually India is playing less ODIs these days compared to the time when Azharuddin was the captain. In my opinion Test match cricket in India got devalued a lot in the early and mid 90s, when all India was doing was playing meaningless tournaments and long ODI series at home. It was all a result of Dalmiya messing up the game more then anyone else. He is in it just for the money, which is ofcourse required, but this man has no love for the game or anything...and its purely money for him.

BREAKING NEWS

The courts have stayed the election of Dalmiya's man as president and appointed an ex judge to run the affairs of the board for the time being.

 

[Neil Pickup]

I certinally found it remarkable that India vs Australia, 1st day of the the 1st test and the ground looked about half full. Whilst I know we're blessed with a remarkable test cricket culture in Australia (many Australians don't even follow ODI cricket unless its the WC) but surely a country with over a billion people, many of whom are cricket fanatics can fill up a medium sized cricket stadium when the undisputed world champions are playing a team that would like to challenge them for that position.

I don't know what crowds are like in England but I think it would be a safe assumption that most of the first three days of the series would be sold out?

In recent years, Test cricket has revitalised itself and the first four days of a Test (those that have tickets sold for them) are 90% sold out 90% of the time.

The fifth day tends to be sold on the doors on the morning, a great chance for tight, opportunistic students with nothing better to do with their time.

 

[SpaceMonkey]

In recent years, Test cricket has revitalised itself and the first four days of a Test (those that have tickets sold for them) are 90% sold out 90% of the time.

The fifth day tends to be sold on the doors on the morning, a great chance for tight, opportunistic students with nothing better to do with their time.

Although lately with england the games dont get to day 5 that often...and this time for all the right reasons!

 

[viktor]

I can only think of the crowds that attended the Melbourne and Sydney tests down here last summer when we were playing India, once we knew there was going to be a real contenst. This current series has been hyped to high heavens, even in Australia in the midst or preparations for a federal election has been more focused on the cricket than on politics (well many of us have :P ). It just seems strange to see such a passionate people unable to fill a 40,000 capacity ground when playing the world champions and after what happened in 2001.

.

i wouldn't say there isn't a test match culture amongst the indian supporters. i mean look at all the noise in the AUsvs Ind thread. the avg man on the street does prefer the one day game but that is becos it was marketed as such. similar i guess to Twenty-20 cricket in the UK.
once (if) we start winning regularly in tests, the crowds will all return.

 

[Richard]

I can only think of the crowds that attended the Melbourne and Sydney tests down here last summer when we were playing India, once we knew there was going to be a real contenst. This current series has been hyped to high heavens, even in Australia in the midst or preparations for a federal election has been more focused on the cricket than on politics (well many of us have :P ). It just seems strange to see such a passionate people unable to fill a 40,000 capacity ground when playing the world champions and after what happened in 2001.

If India wants to build a strong test match tradition it needs to cut its ODI schedule in half and focus more on the tests. I wonder if you ask Tendulkar and the other stars of the Indian team which format they enjoy more what they would say. ODIs are a dime and a dozen now days that many have become meaningless, for example over here, when we lost to England in the Champions Throphy, it barely rated a mention because it was such a meaningless match for us (though for English fans it was undoutably a remarkable achievement).

Which for mine is something of a straw-clutch. If Australia had won it would merely be "ah, we beat the poms again - 16 out of 16 now, no big deal there".
Yes, India play a bit too much ODI-cricket, but with a bit of luck this extraordinary South Africa tour - 2 Tests, no ODIs - and the sense displayed in realising that the ODI leg of the Australia tour had already been played (the TVS Cup last year) may be the start of turning things around.
There is - as of yet - no particular harm in India playing so many ODIs. In England the problem has long been (it was publically recognised 3 years ago now or so, still little has been done about it) the opposite.
But as stated ^^^ (viktor), Indian Test-crowds are not a problem when the team is winning. However, they've been doing quite a bit of that in recent Test-cricket - just that it's such a long time ago now (about 7 months IIRR) since that that their poor ODI form has been far more prevolant.
If India pick-up the pace later on this series, it will be very disappointing indeed if the crowds don't flock in.