Game or God: A country which worships Cricket
Cricket, the sporting marvel gifted to the world by the British. The game has its roots in England, but its branches stretch all over the world, and it has grown enormously in India over the past few decades.
In India, Cricket is not only a sport but also an emotion, a passion, and more. Cricket is one of those very few areas where people forget the differences between them; they stand together and just shout one cheer: “INDIA, INDIA”.
Over time, cricket has become an integral part of every indian’s life. It won’t be wrong to say that “Cricket is played all over the world, but Cricket can only be felt in India.”
Game or Gamble?
The most beautiful thing I find about cricket is that factors such as Religion, Caste and Other elements couldn’t corrupt the essence of sport, but it was my short-sightedness that I couldn’t see the complete picture. In today’s age, Cricket has lost its essence thanks to capitalists and their capitalist ambitions. Cricket in India has not remained just a sport, but a big business.
In today’s article, we will have a closer look at how commerce and capitalism corrupted the essence of the sport. Cricket, a sport of technique, has turned into a money-printing machine. Match-fixing, altering the match results as per the betting cycle, and changes in the format to ensure maximum profits for the broadcaster.
The matters are way worse, they just don’t reach the ears of a common indian, because if he or she gets to know the truth, many will lose the love for the game, and the capitalists will lose their audience. In today’s age, the capitalists are usually the ones in a position of power when it comes to cricketing affairs. In short, they control the game, the media, and the fate of cricket; decisions are not taken for the betterment of the game but for maximising profits
IPL: Indian Profit League
As we all know that the sinking ship of cricket was able to rise back thanks to the
Introduction of the T20 format, which was able to draw the audience back to the stadiums.
Then came the IPL (Indian Premier League) in 2008, which turned Cricket into a celebration. After this, in a span of a few years, a struggling sport with a rapidly declining audience became the world’s 2nd most-watched sport, but T20’s introduction was not the utopian remedy; it did carry a few drawbacks!
You can very well say that, at a point, Cricket had to pay for the revival of the sport through losing its essence.
Then IPL turned cricket from a sport into a money-making model. Cricket in India is heavily influenced by the betting mafia. In many cases, the course of the whole game is planned to ensure that the ones in power earn the most from the money put on bets by ordinary people, and the most embarrassing thing of all is that such cheap betting apps get the opportunity to be the title sponsors of the Indian jersey.
Profits over Patriotism!
Broadcasting rights are the golden goose for BCCI, the trump card which turned
a board struggling to pay players’ match fees to the world’s richest cricket board.
People believed funds would help cricket to turn into a nationally and internationally celebrated sport, but funds in cricket just turned the sport into an international celebration and a national festival; the sport’s essence died when “Broadcasting rights” got capitalised, and it is considered the major turning point where big business houses were able to strengthen their influence over the game
The broadcasting rights are one big reason for the limited reach of the game.
In 2007, we had 16 teams, then the next 2 World Cups we had 14 teams, and in 2019, the number of teams reduced to 10, a few experts believed that early elimination of Indian team or less number of matches played by India was a key reason for the broadcaster’s loss, so the rich big brother of cricketing world, BCCI pressuried the ICC members and the format smaller to ensure, India plays as many matches as possible, to ensure money flowing into the broadcasters pocket.
Somewhere i feel the patriotism showcased by BCCI is hallow, we stopped playing bilateral series with Pakistan due to the 26/11 Attack, but its no coincidence that after that in every sigle ICC tournament there was an India – Pakistan Match for sure, and in the recent years, the match was scheduled for sundays, to grasp maximum viewership, again for the sake of Brodcaster’s profits, Patriotism gets sidelined
Over Up! - Conclusion:
Cricket is dying, a sport which once desperately needed funds and popularity for its revival, is now dying due to the same reason, excessive funds in the game, corrupting the spirits of those in power dynamics of the sport and popularity paved the way for business houses to barge in and capitalise on the very sport!
Now, if you ask me, is there any way to revive the game back, in its true essence? Yes, there is a way! It’s to decentralise power from the hands of BCCI to ICC, and as many experts suggested, making ICC from a member-governed body into an independent body.
Hold on for a moment, somewhere now BCCI and the Indian government have woken up from their corrupt slumber, from the banning of betting apps to the decision of not sharing pool with Pakistan in the future ICC tournaments, the cherry on top is the response of the Indian cricket team to Pakistan and its officials during the Asia Cup.
Cricket is now standing at a very crucial point; the decision taken by those in power, for the next few years, will decide the fate of the game for decades to come.
Let’s wait behind the boundaries and see whether cricket bounces back alive or gets cleaned bowled!!!
