A plan for Tests

From Subhadeep Roy, United States
While Australia and India battled it out for supremacy in the just concluded and highly coveted Border-Gavaskar Trophy, the patrons of Nagpur emphatically and unequivocally voted with their feet. The sound of the ball hitting bat and whoops of players rejoicing after wickets echoing throughout the brand new stadium was unbearable even on TV (or live internet in the US).

Various commentators and pundits have pointed out logistical difficulties such as distance from the city center coupled to the lack of public transportation in addition to expensive tickets as reasons for poor turnouts. However, it needs mentioning that grounds at other venues in the bigger cities of Bangalore and Delhi were not required to bring out their sold out signs either. More predictably, others have blamed cricket's new kid on the block and favorite fall guy Twenty20 for twisting the knife some more into the corpse of test match cricket.

What has not been mentioned though is that the timing and arrangement of Test matches in India always seems arranged in a completely ad-hoc and seeming random manner. Let me explain why I bring this up here. Almost all sports all over the planet has fixed routine that lets the fans anticipate their commencement and even perhaps plan their schedules around it. Having lived in the United States for the past half a dozen years, I have come to know that if the leaves are turning colors and the air is cool, it must be time for football. Or if it is October, the New York Yankees are wondering how much more money they have to spend to win some play-off games. The first weekend of February means skiing on Saturday (just a personal tradition) and Super-Bowl on Sunday. March equals college basketball. Similarly, boxing day and I am always scouring for news from the MCG and come NewYear's day it will be Sydney.

In contrast to all of this, the schedules for Test match series in India and without fail decided on only at the eleventh hour, told to the public at eleven thirty while the actual stadium are only readied at 11:50. By that time it is entirely too late or useless to even contemplate trivialities such as the paying fans. Further, we are told there is a rotation system for allotments of matches to grounds in a big country such as India. So why can somebody not publish a schedule which shows for instance that Nagpur hosts a Test match every third year in the second week of November? Or that Mumbai hosts a Test every three years in the first week of December etc?

The point here is that the sporting events mentioned previously are so much better recieved than Test matches in India because it lets followers be part of a tradition. Lets them be part of a fraternity of fellow cricket lovers. More importantly it lets for planning in lives getting ever busier. For instance if the people of Nagpur knew that a Test match will be played every three years on the fourth week on november, I am ready to bet good money that many would arrange to save their vacation time for those days, buy tickets in advance, plan to meet up with friends at the grounds and indeed do show up to watch cricket.

Now, there are some historical reasons behind the ad-hoc cricketing schedule of almost all countries bar England and Australia which first established their cricket seasons and all new comers to Test cricket had to work around it. But surely Indian cricket is now in a position to enforce a well defined season of its own. Now more than ever, when we actually have a team (almost) worth their fat paychecks. More importantly, India being the generator of the greatest share of money in cricket owns the responsibility of nurturing and promoting cricket in all forms including tests at home. A diminishment of Test cricket in India in all likelihood will not be good for the game elsewhere. So will the BCCI please stop wasting its energies fighting the ICL, ECB, CAB or any other organization with a three letter acronym and tell us what games to look forward to for the next couple of years?