Cricket

Born in India, its only natural that I took immense interest in the Game of cricket. Lets face it - Cricket is more than a religion to a lot of people in India.
What strikes me the most is the transformation of the game.

I remember when I was a kid, it used be a "slow game" when we compare it to today's standards. Satellite television was non-existent in India in the late 80's. Back then we were still in the terrestrial era TV with limited TV channels and if you are lucky, you get to see live broad cast of matches played by India. Contrast that with what we have today – hundreds of channels, people got their own satellite dish and there is always some cricket match telecast all day (atleast in India). These days, we get live feeds of every cricket game – including matches that do not involve India - even Non-Indian Domestic games for games for crying out loud. That to me is testimony to the broad casting revolution that has happened in India starting from the mid-90's.

Anyway, now coming back to cricket, When I started following the game, Test match cricket was the deal. One day cricket was there - but the notion then was test cricket is the real deal. I am not going to argue which version is better here... am sure each version has its own merits.
Lets face it – We live in a fast-paced generation – where a lot can happen in a matter of minutes, its a stretch to watch a game that prolongs to 5 days. Agreed - that it takes a lot of skill, determination, courage and tactics which come into play in a test match and for this reason - test match will be played for ever even if we keep inventing new versions of the game. IMHO, test cricket will continue to exist for ever and will be the testing grounds for players. But, these players eventually win the hearts of the people by providing the excitement which is immense in the shorter version of the games.

Ok - now - moving on to the next exciting thing - One day cricket - boy - was this a revolution or what? The other day I was reading archived news material about Kerry Parker/Tony Grieg stages of world series cricket which is the roots of one day cricket as it is today. One day cricket makes things exciting – Given that rules favor the batsmen - but if you are a good bowler, you can still play a significant role in the game - look at Brett Lee - he spells terror for any opponent on all games !

The problem with One day cricket is - its still too long - If I ve to watch a game played on a weekday, I have to take off from work and watch the game - which is not always possible.
So we tend to miss the live telecast / part of the match and watch the highlights. Its not like catching a NBA or NFL game in the evening.

The recent edition of cricket - the 20/20 is a revolution. Its pure excitement from the start to finish of a game. To put it plainly, 20/20 is One day cricket on steroids. The whole game is complete in 3-4 hours - which makes it an ideal sport for the evening after work. The other fantastic aspect is - how things can change - the game can turn over its head in just a matter of few mins. This sway of fortune and equal opportunity to both teams makes the game fantastic. To be honest, One day cricket gets a little predictable based on the proceeding of the first 15/20 overs. But with 20/20, you cannot predict till the last ball is bowled or the last run is scored.

Now, we are entering the phase of League cricket in India - The ICL and IPL. To me this a huge step in the evolution of 20/20 and cricket as a whole. IPL is scheduled to start later this year. But ICL has definitely grown leaps and bounds. The games are more interesting and very exciting to watch – which is the ultimate aim of a sport. The players get a nice monetary reward for their effort which is good to see.

A person from non-cricket playing country like US - watched cricket over the years he would have seen tremendous change. From the white clothes game to the colored clothes, ODI day light matches to today's 20/20 games with Cheer leaders, fantastic technology being used in the coverage like the GPS to monitor the player's effort, fly cams, snico's, hot spots - its a total revolution !

So - with all these exciting changes, lets wish success to the new format of the game and lets hope it will revolutionize cricket in the years to come.