I'm writing this post at the end of the India-Australia ODI series 2013. Several thoughts were hovering my mind after watching the 'Series of Records'. Yes! Plethora records in a single tournament. 'Incredible' but good for the sake of cricket especially Indian Cricket. But not all that convincing. With so many thoughts in my mind, I had no option but to put up a blog post.
Let us start with the scores and team totals. Almost every match had a target more than 300 runs. As if this was not enough, even the chasing team scores crossed 300 runs. Now, how often have we seen this in One Day Internationals? Yes, South Africa chased a target of 434 runs against Australia. But that was way back in 2006 and it did not repeat for a long time. When India chased 359 at Jaipur, I was overwhelmed and felt it was an amazing team work. But when the same chase was repeated in Nagpur, I wasn't all that convinced. Moving further, other record which made me skeptical was Virat Kohli's centuries. Both centuries displayed very good temperament but again did not excite me as much as Sachin's centuries during his heyday. Also, Rohit's double century and his name associated with legends like Sachin and Sehwag is something which any cricket fan would NOT be fully convinced.
Let me present my views on these. Starting with the 'unrealistic' run chases by India, I personally feel things are not what they seem to be. Especially the second run chase at Nagpur. Let us go back and look at the situation of the series before Nagpur ODI. The series was 2-1 with Australia leading. A defeat for India at Nagpur would have closed and sealed the series. Next match at Bangalore would have become insignificant. What consequence would this have on the series? A big impact. BCCI would have incurred losses. How? Series decided before its scheduled end would have made viewers lose interest in the next match. And TRP's would have reduced which means less number of sponsors. So a loss was on the cards for many firms especially BCCI whose main source of income is from the sponsors.
Even the last ODI at Bangalore was filled with 'suspicious' events. Rohit belting sixers so easily without any timing or placement and securing a double century was not all that convincing. When Sachin and Sehwag got double centuries, the whole of India celebrated. But this one was not much exciting. Also, the match getting prolonged even after Australia were down to 211-8, in my view, was again a gimmick to maintain TRP's till the end of the match. People watched the match only for Faulkner's great batting.
Many experts say this series has marked the change in attitude of players towards ODIs. T20 cricket has made players look targets beyond 300 as being possible to achieve while chasing. This might be one of the reasons but I dont agree with it completely. When Shahid Afridi got his record century of 37 balls and when South Africa chased 434, T20 cricket had not set its mark in cricket arena. Moreover, there are other bilateral tournaments going on like South Africa vs Pakistan. Why hasn't there been such scores in those matches? Even South Africa and Pakistan have some amazing 'hitmen' like Afridi and AB De Villiars. May be the reason for all these is the way pitches are being prepared by the host cricket boards. Flat pitches are a batsman's paradise any day. Just sweep the bat in air and ball flies away. Its a win-win situation for both viewers and the cricket boards. Pity for bowlers!!
Not everyone will agree with my views on matches being fixed or tailored just to gain viewers. May be the scam involving BCCI chief and IPL has influenced me to think in a different way. I'm not really against the team or the records. Being a genuine cricket fan, I appreciate and enjoy watching such matches. Full credit to the players involved. But one thing which everyone will agree is the death of classical One Day matches. Nobody will now feel that a double hundred in ODIs is a landmark event or that a score greater than 300 is enough to win a match. And with so many sixers being hit, a sixer will definitely not be a special shot that one would look forward to during a match. Looking at the predictability of the One day matches, is it not good to say TEST CRICKET is the only format where we can look forward to "class cricket"? Yes, No, May be!
Let us start with the scores and team totals. Almost every match had a target more than 300 runs. As if this was not enough, even the chasing team scores crossed 300 runs. Now, how often have we seen this in One Day Internationals? Yes, South Africa chased a target of 434 runs against Australia. But that was way back in 2006 and it did not repeat for a long time. When India chased 359 at Jaipur, I was overwhelmed and felt it was an amazing team work. But when the same chase was repeated in Nagpur, I wasn't all that convinced. Moving further, other record which made me skeptical was Virat Kohli's centuries. Both centuries displayed very good temperament but again did not excite me as much as Sachin's centuries during his heyday. Also, Rohit's double century and his name associated with legends like Sachin and Sehwag is something which any cricket fan would NOT be fully convinced.
Let me present my views on these. Starting with the 'unrealistic' run chases by India, I personally feel things are not what they seem to be. Especially the second run chase at Nagpur. Let us go back and look at the situation of the series before Nagpur ODI. The series was 2-1 with Australia leading. A defeat for India at Nagpur would have closed and sealed the series. Next match at Bangalore would have become insignificant. What consequence would this have on the series? A big impact. BCCI would have incurred losses. How? Series decided before its scheduled end would have made viewers lose interest in the next match. And TRP's would have reduced which means less number of sponsors. So a loss was on the cards for many firms especially BCCI whose main source of income is from the sponsors.
Many experts say this series has marked the change in attitude of players towards ODIs. T20 cricket has made players look targets beyond 300 as being possible to achieve while chasing. This might be one of the reasons but I dont agree with it completely. When Shahid Afridi got his record century of 37 balls and when South Africa chased 434, T20 cricket had not set its mark in cricket arena. Moreover, there are other bilateral tournaments going on like South Africa vs Pakistan. Why hasn't there been such scores in those matches? Even South Africa and Pakistan have some amazing 'hitmen' like Afridi and AB De Villiars. May be the reason for all these is the way pitches are being prepared by the host cricket boards. Flat pitches are a batsman's paradise any day. Just sweep the bat in air and ball flies away. Its a win-win situation for both viewers and the cricket boards. Pity for bowlers!!
Not everyone will agree with my views on matches being fixed or tailored just to gain viewers. May be the scam involving BCCI chief and IPL has influenced me to think in a different way. I'm not really against the team or the records. Being a genuine cricket fan, I appreciate and enjoy watching such matches. Full credit to the players involved. But one thing which everyone will agree is the death of classical One Day matches. Nobody will now feel that a double hundred in ODIs is a landmark event or that a score greater than 300 is enough to win a match. And with so many sixers being hit, a sixer will definitely not be a special shot that one would look forward to during a match. Looking at the predictability of the One day matches, is it not good to say TEST CRICKET is the only format where we can look forward to "class cricket"? Yes, No, May be!
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