Practicality v idealism

By Sriram Jayanthi, India

Take a look at the world around us. On reflection, you will find that it is a highly commercialised environment in which each individual is a business entity. Every opportunity is exploited and marketed to the fullest potential. Any space is marketing space, pushing into our subconscious the need to be branded. We are products of this system and we propagate this system, pushing the boundaries in the hope of finding happiness in wealth.

In such times, it is foolhardy to expect sport to remain aloof and pure. After all, sport is a reflection of the society. Cricket is no different, it has (and is still) going commercial in a bid to survive.

The conundrum that the game is stuck in is that the preferred format (by purists at least) is Test Cricket. Historically cricket has two major chinks in its global-outreach armour. One, it takes too long to deliver results with matches being played over five days, and, two, the rules are too complicated. To ensure its spread, cricket has to be more accessible. Changing the rules to make it less complicated is out of the question, as the sanctity of the game will then be challenged. This leaves us with no other option but to shorten its duration.

Global audiences fed on a diet of instant everything will be more receptive to short bursts of high intensity cricket; first one-day cricket was developed and when attention spans dipped further, Twenty20 was developed. A natural progression one would say. This progression, though by nature logical, created conflict.

Twenty20, apart from shifting attention away from Test cricket, also spawned leagues, the most notable one being the IPL. These leagues operate in the franchise mode, with major cities having a team and a fan base in the areas surrounding it. The idea was to exploit inter-city rivalry and deliver cricket as an entertainment package. The idea by itself was not novel. It was tried and tested in other sports, proving to be very effective.

The IPL, when it arrived did so in a blaze of glitz and glamour. Huge sums were being thrown around. Every corporate wanted a piece of this lucrative pie. The purist and the idealist flinched and started to blame the IPL for everything wrong with cricket, calling it the scourge. Perhaps, it was the knowledge of what society had become and, by association, what they themselves had become that they found repulsive.

Simply put, it is a transmogrification of the baser battle between practicality and idealism. Practicality deems that these leagues exist to generate interest and keep the sport alive. Now, I am not championing the cause of Twenty20 against Test Cricket; I too love Test cricket. If I had a better way with words, I would have written ballads and odes. I am writing this article in hope that practicality wins, and we don’t crib about how the IPL is to blame for everything. In the process, we might as well enjoy it.